Jeremy Evans’ life changed forever in August 2017 when a grizzly bear attack in the forests of Alberta, Canada, left him torn apart, barely clinging to life — and convinced he would never see his family again.
The maintenance supervisor had set out on August 24 in search of a ram to hunt. Instead, he found himself face-to-face with one of nature’s most dangerous predators.
At first, Jeremy noticed what he thought was a “little brown thing” darting across his path just a few feet ahead. He assumed it was small game, until the reality hit — it was a bear cub. Within moments, its mother appeared, charging forward to defend her young.
Instinctively, Jeremy reached for his bear spray inside his backpack. But before he could pull it free, the mother grizzly was already on him. In a desperate bid to save himself, he hurled his bicycle at the animal. The move made contact but left him with severe wounds to his hand.
The bear backed off briefly but soon returned with even greater fury. Jeremy ran and tried to scramble up a tree, but before he could escape, the animal seized his leg and dragged him down.
The brutal mauling left his body ripped apart. Recalling the moment in an interview with the Daily Mail, Jeremy said:
“My left eye was hanging out of the socket. It was facing down. In order to really see, I either had to lift up my eye or lean my head way back.”
He added:
“I remember feeling my face and nothing felt the same. My jaw was hanging down on the left side and all my teeth were exposed.”
When the bear eventually left him, Jeremy collapsed on the forest floor, half-blind and broken. Summoning what little strength he had, he crawled through the undergrowth until he reached his backpack and firearm. Scattered around him were gruesome reminders of the attack — his moustache, part of his goatee, a section of his face, and even his ear torn away.
Convinced he would not survive, he pulled out his phone and began typing farewell messages to his wife.
One heartbreaking note read:
“Whoever finds this please let my wife know I tried to make it. But there is [no] chance, that bear really [fed] me up.”*
Another message followed:
“I am pretty sure this is the end. I am very tired and I feel like I am going to pass out. If I do I won’t wake up.”
Against all odds, Jeremy survived. But his battle was only beginning. Doctors performed five major surgeries and more than 15 additional procedures to reconstruct the devastating damage.
Even as his body began to heal, the psychological trauma lingered. Jeremy developed severe PTSD, forcing him into years of therapy to process the horror of what happened in the woods that day.
The scars — both physical and emotional — remain a constant reminder of how close he came to death, and how a single encounter forever altered the course of his life.
