A dream vacation turned into a bizarre nightmare for an Omaha woman. Kelly Fawks had a brutal encounter with what seemed like a cute little creature that she encountered in Belize while docked during a cruise.

Kelly has since had 26 rabies shots.

Two months ago her cruise vacation docked in Belize where she and a friend went horseback riding at a resort. That's where she crossed paths with a pet spider monkey named Pancho greeting tourists.

That alarms Omaha's zoo director, Dr. Lee Simmons who says, "Even though they may seem to be friendly they can turn back in the wild animals at a moment's notice."

That's what happened when resort guides helped Kelly up after a fall. Pancho attacked her in a jealous rage.

Kelly says, "It felt like being stabbed -- just being sliced open with flesh being ripped off of me."

The guides grabbed Kelly's water bottle and squirted the monkey until he ran.

Jessica Coleman worried that her friend wouldn't survive the hour-long drive to a Belize hospital in a resort van.

She says, "I thought he was going to kill her. And with the amount of blood she was losing I was concerned several times on the way to the ER that we were going to lose her."

Kelly has insurance to cover treatment in Omaha but her mother, Nancy Waters, pays deductibles and living expenses because Kelly hasn't been able to work. They say the resort and its insurance company have not returned their many calls.

Nancy says, "I'm having nightmares about being attacked, so I can only guess hers are a thousand times worse. No amount of money will ever make it right."

Unable to find out anything about the monkey, Kelly had to begin the rabies shots but she says it could have been worse.

"I think if they hadn't got him off of me he probably would have killed me," she says.

Kelly Fawks' Omaha attorney has filed a claim with the insurance company representing the Central American resort. No specific amount is mentioned because her medical bills are mounting and more surgery is possible.

The insurance company based in Central America has not answered the claim. Its attorney emailed us to say, "no comment."