Pregnant wife of former NBA player 'traumatized' after shark attack

USA Today

16 hours ago

The pregnant wife of former NBA player Danilo Gallinari has spoken out after being a victim of a shark attack off a beach in Puerto Rico, an ordeal she says has affected her physically and mentally.
During an interview with "Good Morning America" on Thursday, Aug. 14, Eleonora Boi, Gallinari's wife, said the incident on July 31 left her "traumatized."
Boi, 39, is a sports journalist who was six months pregnant at the time of the attack, which occurred near the shore of a crowded beach in Carolina, a municipality in the northeastern part of the U.S. territory, just east of San Juan.
The wife of the former New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets forward told the TV program that she was swimming in waist-deep water with the couple's two young children when she was suddenly bitten on her thigh.
"I felt a strong pain, and my thigh was burning, but my idea was, 'Maybe it's a huge jellyfish.' But in the reality, it wasn't a jellyfish," Boi said, per "Good Morning America." "I started crying and screaming and I was screaming for help in Italian."
In an Instagram post following the attack, Boi wrote that she was recovering from what she called the "worst day" of her life.
How did Eleonora Boi survive the shark attack?
Gallinari, who was at the beach with Boi at the time of the attack, told "Good Morning America" that he rushed to save his wife.
"As soon as everyone started screaming, I had my son with me. I ran towards my wife and my daughter," Gallinari, who currently plays with the Vaqueros de Bayamón in Puerto Rico, told the TV program.
The couple then said they picked up their children and hurried to shore, where a woman helped put pressure on Boi's wound with a clean towel until medics arrived.
"She was an angel. Danilo was with me, and she helped so much. I would like to say thank you to this woman, because I don't know her name, and I just want to say thank you to her, because she helped a lot," Boi said about the woman, per "Good Morning America".
Immediately after the attack, Boi recalled being frantic and hoping that she would not die from the attack.
"'Oh, my God,' I was saying, 'I don't want to die' and 'I want that my baby is safe.' And I was crying. I was desperate, really desperate," Boi told "Good Morning America".
How has the shark attack affected Eleonora Boi?
Once at a hospital, Boi said during the interview that doctors ran hours of tests to ensure the couple's unborn baby was OK before they decided on an operation for her.
"After they gave us confirmation that the kid was OK and nothing happened to him, then they started the surgery process," Gallinari said, per "Good Morning America".
The couple told the TV program that Boi's doctors acknowledged that they had never treated a shark bite victim before; nonetheless, she is expected to make a full recovery. She is currently going to weekly doctor appointments and is due to give birth in November, the couple said.
Although Boi is doing OK physically, she said the attack has taken a toll on her mental health.
"I have to be honest, it's not easy, because when I remember, I'm still scared – and, you know, it's difficult," Boi said, per "Good Morning America".
Gallinari added, "I think that the body in this situation recovers faster than the mind, and that's something that, you know, you don't have to be ashamed of or scared of."