A Tennessee mother is working to return to the United States after suffering serious injuries while swimming with dolphins in Jamaica.
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During spring break, Cierra Stockard was enjoying a swim with the normally gentle sea creatures when an unexpected incident occurred.
Leading up to the incident, Stockard described a scene of euphoria.
“It’s like you’re going into a cheerleading position — like you’re a flyer on top of the pyramid,” Stockard recalled to local Nashville outlet WKRN. “They just push you through the water, and it’s like you’re gliding through water.”
One of the dolphins lifted her into the air, causing her to fall and land on its dorsal fin, she told WKRN.
Following the incident, the mom of two was taken to a local hospital in Montego Bay for treatment.
“It just felt like I got into a car accident,” she told WKRN via phone from the hospital in Jamaica. “The force of it — It felt like boom! Something just happened really bad. I was just in so much pain. Tears were just running down my face.”
The Injuries the Mother Received From the Dolphin Are Further Aggravated by an Ongoing Illness
Stockard, who has sickle cell anemia and is currently in Jamaica with family, recently underwent emergency surgery and received two blood transfusions. However, she remains uncertain about when or how she will be able to return home.
Stockard may require a third transfusion due to her condition and has been relying on “medication from home” to manage her sickle cell disease. However, as her sister Nevaeh Garton explained in a GoFundMe fundraiser, “she can’t handle it all by herself.”
Stockard’s aunt, Kimberley Watkins, agreed. “We need her home because this is just not a good circumstance,” Watkins told WKRN.
We’ve tried to contact the embassy,” Watkins explained. “Basically, they can just direct us. I’m not going to say they’ve not been a help, but we’ve been doing things ourselves.”
The fundraising page further details that “medical flights have been quoted $45,000.” As of this writing, the family has raised just over $18,000 of a $45,000 goal.