Florida shark attacks update: Teen’s first words after surgery

Survivors of last week’s unusual flurry of shark attacks in Florida’s Walton County are recovering from amputations and other severe injuries.

A 45-year-old woman and two teenage girls were injured in separate attacks striking within hours of each other on Friday. In the days that followed, all of the victims were said to be recovering from their injuries.

Ann Blair Gribbin, mother of 15-year-old victim Lulu Gribbin, shared an update on her daughter’s condition and her first words after being taken off a ventilator to the website CaringBridge on Sunday.

“[Surgeons said] that the shark had bitten off Lulu’s left hand and that they had to amputate her right leg halfway up from her knee to her hip,” Gribbin wrote. “She also had lost 2/3 of the blood in her body. Of course, no one wants that for your child but she is alive.”

“Saturday … She did so well that they ended up taking the tube out of her throat and she was breathing on her own,” she added. “This was a first big step. Once she was settled her first words to us were ‘I made it.’ And boy she did.”

Gribbin went on to say that Lulu described the attack while recovering in the hospital, saying that the shark “bit her hand and then her leg” as she and five friends were wading near a sandbar looking for sand dollars.

The shark then bit the foot of Lulu’s 17-year-old friend before strangers came to their rescue. Officials said that the friend suffered “minor injuries on one of her feet,” according to CBS affiliate WTVR.

“Lulu said a man grabbed her other arm and pulled her out and another younger boy helped him carry her to shore,” wrote Gribbin. “Once on the shore there were two doctors and two other young women one of whom was a nurse who were all surrounding Lulu.”

“These individuals put tourniquets on Lulu’s wounds. Which I believe was crucial to saving Lulu’s life,” she continued. “At this point we will have multiple surgeries in the days to come and our lives will be forever changed. Lulu is strong, beautiful, brave and so many more things I can’t count.”

In a subsequent update shared on Monday, Gribbin wrote that Lulu met with two men who “pulled off the shark” and “assisted carrying her to the beach” while hospitalized and told the men “thank you for saving my life.” She also joked to a family member that “mom and dad get handicapped parking” due to her injuries.

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office via email on Tuesday night.

Adult victim Elisabeth Foley was attacked less than two hours earlier and approximately four miles away from the site of the attack on Lulu and her friend. According to a fundraising page on the “Christian crowdfunding” website GiveSendGo, Foley lost her left hand and “suffered severe injuries to her midsection” in the attack.

Elisabeth’s husband Ryan Foley said during a Sunday church service that his wife was “hanging in there and has a super positive attitude” despite getting “banged up pretty good,” according to WTVR.

South Walton Fire District Chief Ryan Crawford described the incidents on Friday as “highly unusual.” County officials contacted experts to determine what might have triggered the back-to-back shark attacks, which are normally rare events.

It was unclear whether one shark was responsible for both attacks. The type of shark or sharks involved was also unknown, although officials said that there was a “notable presence” of bull sharks in the area at the time, according to USA Today.

Beaches near the attacks, which had been temporarily closed down on Friday, had reportedly been reopened by Saturday, with new warning flags installed.