Tim Dicus

Tim Dicus (CNN.com)

Imagine this! You are on your surfboard, waiting for the perfect wave when suddenly you hear a loud scream. You look to see where it is coming from and you see a young girl’s body face down in the water with a shadow of a shark right beside her. What do you do? This exact situation happened to a man named Tim Dicus. Dicus is 54 years old, from Sandestin, Florida, where he is still an active surfer. Dicus was out in the water when he found 14 year old Jaime Daigle being attacked by a Bull Shark. Dicus went into harm's way to attempt to save this young girl. If you’d ask me, I would definitely say that Mr. Dicus was a hero.

The hero I choose is Tim Dicus. He is 54 years old and from Destin, Florida. He has surfed all his life. What he did was very courageous and risky. This hero made a difference because he attempted to save a young girl named Jaimie Daigle, from Louisiana, from a shark attack. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful but the Daigle family considers him a hero for attempting to save this young girl. He said that he had never seen a shark get so aggressive in his whole entire life. Here is the story of this unfortunate attack.

14 year-old Jaimie Daigle (CNN.com)

Tim Dicus was waiting for the perfect wave when he saw that two young girls were swimming out to sea behind the second sand bar. He did warn the girls to head back to shore, but they did not listen and kept swimming farther and farther out to sea. He then heard a loud shriek. He looked over to see where this yell was coming from and saw one of the two girls frantically swimming back to shore. He then looked for the other girl. She was face down in the water with a shadow of a Bull Shark right next to her. This was Jaimie Daigle. He speedily paddled on his surfboard to Jaimie and placed her on his board. The shark kept attacking. Dicus then punched the shark in the nose, but it kept trying to attack again and again. Dicus looked for the wounds and found that she was mostly bitten in the lower portion of her body. Dicus told reporters “He was really aggressive. I’ve never seen a shark get so aggressive.” When Dicus and Jaimie were making their way back to shore, the shark was attracted to the blood from Jaimie’s thigh and kept following. Eventually a safety raft was sent out to sea to put Jaimie on. Once Jaimie was placed into the raft, the shark swam away. Jaimie was rushed to shore and was driven to the hospital where, later that day, she was pronounced dead. Dicus was very disappointed when he heard this news.

The type of hero I would say that fits Tim Dicus best is “Hero on the Spot.” The reason I say this is because Dicus tried to save Jaimie with natural instinct. He had no second thoughts about it. He went into harm's way just to attempt to rescue this young girl. He had the courage to punch the shark and had the risk of getting attacked too. This is why I think Tim Dicus is a “Hero on the Spot.”

Bull Shark - Type that attacked Jamie (google.com)

So, now you know that hero can be anyone. From the Beach Life Guards all the way to a beach bum surfer. Tim Dicus is a true hero and was willing to risk his life for others. Although he was not successful, the Daigle Family still are extremely thankful that he was courageous enough to attempt to save their beloved daughter.