Eleonora Boi, the pregnant wife of former NBA player Danilo Gallinari, is sharing her story about recently being bitten by a shark while swimming with her two children.
The Italian sports journalist first talked about the shark encounter at Carolina Resort in Puerto Rico, in an Aug. 1 post on Instagram.
She and Gallinari spoke on the Thursday, Aug. 14 episode of Good Morning America to share what happened and to thank “an angel” who helped them that day.
“I have to say that I’m traumatized. I started crying and screaming, and I was screaming for help in Italian,” Boi said about the incident. It happened while she and Gallinari were swimming with their children in waist-deep water.
At first, Boi didn’t think it was a shark.
“I felt a strong pain, and my thigh was burning. But I thought maybe it was a huge jellyfish. But it wasn’t a jellyfish,” she said.
Gallinari said he rushed to his wife and daughter before getting everyone safely to the shore.
Boi described being very scared for herself and her unborn child.
“Oh my god, I was saying, ‘I don’t want to die.’ I wanted my baby safe, and I was crying. I was desperate,” she said.
Once on shore, a woman helped by using a towel to put pressure on Boi’s wound.
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“She was an angel. Danilo was with me, and she helped so much,” Boi said. “I would like to say thank you to this woman because I don’t know her name, but she helped a lot.”
After emergency responders arrived, Boi was taken to the hospital. According to Good Morning America, the staff had “never treated a shark bite victim” before. She had to undergo “hours of tests” to make sure her baby was safe before surgery.
“After they confirmed that the kid was okay and nothing happened to him, they started the surgery process,” Gallinari said.
Both Boi and her baby are physically safe. But she is still dealing with the emotional impact of the attack.
“I have to be honest, it’s not easy because when I remember, I’m still scared. And you know, it’s difficult,” she said.
Gallinari added, “I think the body in this situation recovers faster than the mind. And that’s something that, you know, you don’t have to be ashamed of or scared of.”
Boi called the attack “the worst day of my life” in her first Instagram post, translated from Italian.
“I never thought I could get attacked by a shark while near the shore and on a super crowded beach. Thankfully my baby and I are fine. I was rushed to the rescue, and the surgery to fix my leg went well.”
She jokingly addressed the shark, writing, “Shark will hear from my legals soon as possible.”
Gallinari, whom Boi married in July 2022, once played for the New York Knicks after being drafted in 2008. He left the NBA in 2024 and now plays for Puerto Rico’s Vaqueros de Bayamon.
Before finishing his NBA career, he also played for the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, and Milwaukee Bucks.
