Following a “successful hunt” in the Wyoming mountain ranges, 61-year-old Lee Brooke had his life changed forever after a bear ripped off his face in a terrifying ordeal Lee didn’t think he would survive.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning Lee shares that specialists are preparing to reattach his nose, when the replacement is finished growing on his arm that is.
Lee separated from his hunting party – who were all carrying guns – to skin an elk he had shot the day before, armed with nothing but a hunting knife.
Realising a bear had claimed the elk carcass, Lee attempted to leave the scene, but not before a mother Grizzly bear grabbed him, knocked him out and mauled him down the mountain.
Lee reveals his nose growing on his arm.
It may sound like a scene from ‘The Revenant’, but the fight that ensued was all too real for Lee.
“A voice in my head said, don’t play dead,” Lee told the hosts of This Morning.
“I stood up, but I couldn’t see. I looked down and saw my nose and mustache on the ground to my left, and I thought ‘Oh, that’s what’s wrong with me’, but I couldn’t worry about that. I had to get away.”
Lee before the attack.
Lee did get away, then had to wait seven hours before he was found, this was actually an extreme stroke of luck for Lee. His brother-in-law even managed to find and save Lee’s nose and mustache and store it in his pocket.
That nose was attached to Lee’s arm the next day, and so began the next stage of Lee’s recovery. This means two years of reconstructive surgeires and then finally, Lee’s nose (or what’s left of it) will be reattached to his face.
“I lost my lip, which means I lost my mustache,” Lee cheekily adds.
Nice to see he didn’t lose his sense of humour, this has been helped by the positive and endless support given by his wife Martha, who was by his side for entire recovery.
A huge part of Lee’s recovery is also mental, with pepople like Martha by his side we have no doubt it will be just that bit easier.
