Last week we received yet another fibropapilloma patient with a heavy tumor load including some eye tumors blocking his vision.  Luckily for this green sea turtle he was spotted floating by a local Cudjoe Key fisher named John.  John’s daughters had actually been to visit the turtles at the hospital a couple weeks prior and had educated there father on what a sick turtle looks like.  Armed with this knowledge John knew it was important to catch the sick turtle and gave the hospital a call.  After several minutes John was able to scoop the turtle onto the boat and meet rehab staff at Cudjoe Gardens Marina.  After consulting with his daughters John decided to name the turtle Archie! Staff at the marina helped to transfer Archie to the ambulance and after checking the heart rate to insure he was stable he was loaded into the ambulance and started his journey to the hospital.

John and his fishing buddy with Archie

Upon arrival at the hospital x-rays showed Archie’s lungs were a bit cloudy which could mean he has a lung infection that caused him to float.  He will be scheduled for surgery in the next couple of weeks to start removal of the tumors and is currently being treated with antibiotics for the infection.  Archie was very lucky to have friends fishing in the area!