Dan Bigly shared the bone-chilling details of surviving a brutal bear attack as he hiked in Alaska that tragically left him blind in an exclusive recount.
Two decades have flown by since Bigly endured the terrible wrath of a brown bear while trekking back from fishing in Alaska, which almost cost him his life.
The brute force of the bear, biting him in the face, left Bigley blind. In a heartfelt interview, Bigley reflected on the traumatic experience, chillingly describing that the bear was the last thing he ever saw, as he lost his sight after the encounter—but he says he still sees the bear in his dreams.
Bigly opened up about the moment he was mauled (
Secret History)
“You know, I didn’t realize at the time that this would be one of the last things I would ever see with my eyes, that it would burn itself into my psyche of something I would see kind of over and over again and in dreams and, you know, just throughout the day, every day for months, weeks, months, even years to come.”, reports the Express US.
Bigly, currently residing in Anchorage, embraced by his family’s love, still finds grappling with the memories of his ordeal tough.
He disclosed how revisiting those traumatic events through penning a memoir and sharing his story has somewhat soothed his old wounds:
“But to be honest, one of the things about rewriting the book and sharing the story so broadly is it has become easier,” acknowledging that healing came with time and his proactive efforts in therapy.
Bigley offers an uplifting outlook, remarking, “But I think the bigger answer is that, really, the bigger my life gets, the smaller my disability gets. And really, the bigger my life gets, the smaller the trauma of it all gets.”
He continues positively on his experiences: “And I’ve gone on to live a very fulfilling and wonderful life. And that’s what the whole story is about—moving beyond the bear.”
He previously shared the secret that kept him alive through the ordeal: “I knew right away that I was going to fight for life. I don’t know if I can survive, but if I do, I have no idea what kind of shape I’m going to be in, what kind of challenges there will be or pain to endure…”
“I realized right then and there, the worst possible outcome would be the possibility that I would look back at some point in my future and regret that choice to live. I basically made a deal with myself that I would never allow myself to ever look back and question that decision. From that point forward, my life was going to be about one small step forward at a time,” Bigly wrote.