Okeechobee - Kasey Edwards said he never paid "too much mind" to alligators swimming in canals in Okeechobee County.

But early Sunday morning, an 11½-foot alligator had his full attention as Edwards, 18, struggled to free his left arm from the jaws of the reptile.

"It's a very surreal feeling. You know, feeling like you're about to die here and you know, praying to God," Edwards said. "I have to give all the credit to God for keeping me out there."

He got away with his life and the gator with his left arm.

On Monday evening, Edwards was in fair condition at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne with his arm severed about 3 to 4 inches above the elbow. Today, Edwards said, he will have surgery. He hopes to be out of the hospital by the weekend.

At 2:21 a.m. Sunday, Edwards was hanging out with friends on Nubbin Slough in Okeechobee County when he told them he was going to swim across a 25-foot-deep canal, according to an Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office report.

Edwards had been drinking alcoholic beverages earlier and may have been impaired, according to witnesses quoted in the report. His friends tried to persuade him not to do it, the report states.

Halfway through the swim, an alligator approached Edwards and clamped down on his left arm. Edwards said he knew the next move was the death roll, when a gator pulls its prey underwater and rolls the victim around to drown it.

And that's when Edwards said he fought back by grabbing hold of a buoy line and not letting go. Somewhere in the battle he used the middle finger on his right hand to poke the reptile in the eye.

That's when Edwards got free, he said, started swimming and realized he didn't have his left arm. But his main concern was to make it to the east end of the canal so friends could pull him to safety.

Edwards said his attack shows something needs to be done about the overpopulation of gators.

"They're not protected creatures. They're nuisance animals," he said.

Edwards said the credit for his survival and quick thinking goes to God, friends and emergency personnel.

"I don't care who you are or how strong you think you are. You aren't going to be able to hold on to a buoy line while an 11½-foot alligator is trying to pull you underwater," he said.