The mother of a teenager who lost a hand and a leg in a shark attack reports on her progress.

The mother of a 15-year-old girl who lost a hand and a leg in one of several shark attacks in the Florida Panhandle on Friday has opened up about her daughter’s injuries and recovery. She said the girl continues to surprise her parents with her “attitude, strength, humor and understanding of what happened to her.”

Lulu Gribbin was hunting for sand dollars with her twin sister Ellie and friends in Rosemary Beach when a shark bit off her hand and severely injured her leg. Lulu was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Pensacola, where doctors had to amputate her leg “halfway from the knee to the hip” during surgery, Lulu’s mother Ann Blair Gribbin wrote on CaringBridge.

Ann Blair wrote at the time that Lulu would have to undergo several surgeries and that her life would now be changed forever. And in her final update on Wednesday, the mother said she was in the back of an AirMed jet on her way to see a specialist who was a “pioneer in the field of multiple limb amputation.”

“We did not take the decision to have the remaining surgeries and rehabilitation done at another hospital lightly,” the mother wrote. “We believe this will give Lulu the best chance to live as normal a life as possible with two prosthetics. Medically speaking, this is the best option for Lulu and another step on the road to healing.”

Lulu’s mother wrote that she felt “extreme sadness” about having to leave the place where her daughter had stayed alive and thanked the staff for all their work. She also said that of all her current feelings, Lulu felt gratitude towards a child life specialist, which her mother confirmed.

“As I sit here in the back of the plane, I watch Lulu sleep, her chest rising and falling and expanding and inflating,” wrote Ann Blair. “I smile at her, overwhelmed with a sense of happiness and gratitude. She is alive and she is breathing.”

On CaringBridge on Tuesday, Ellie described the attack – which occurred on a mother-daughter trip with a group of her friends and their mothers – from her perspective.

Ellie said she and her twin sister went swimming in search of more sand dollars when her friend shouted that there was a shark. She and another friend “started swimming for their lives,” and when she finally looked back, “the whole ocean was red.”

Lulu’s twin sister said she ran to her sister after a man carried her out of the water. And when their mother – who was returning to the beach from lunch – arrived, the 15-year-old said she stayed strong for the three of them while doctors attached a tourniquet to Lulu’s leg.

“I hugged her and let her cry on my shoulders while the doctors on the beach stopped the blood flow to her leg and arm,” Ellie wrote. “It was very difficult for me to stay strong, but I switched into survival mode. I had to survive so my mom and Lulu could survive. I knew the pain Lulu was going through, and I knew mom had no one to comfort her except me, so I stayed strong for them both.”

Lulu was one of three people injured in shark attacks in the area Friday afternoon, prompting Walton County to temporarily close its beaches. In the first attack, a 45-year-old woman in Watersound lost her left forearm. Lulu and the third victim – a 17-year-old girl who was traveling with the Gribbins – were attacked about 90 minutes and four miles away. The third girl suffered lacerations to her right foot.

Since the attack, Ann Blair said her family and hospital staff have been surprised by Lulu’s alertness, especially after several surgeries to close the amputations and clean her wounds. And when the central cardiac catheter and the catheters connected to her leg were removed, Lulu was able to see up close what she might do in the future.

“You probably don’t know this, but Lulu wants to be a doctor. When those tubes were removed, she asked if she could watch. The nurses brought in a big mirror so she could see exactly what they were doing and how everything worked. Lulu is here!”

And despite the tragedy, both Ellie and Ann Blair have expressed that Lulu’s determination has not changed.

“I have witnessed Lulu being here,” Ann Blair wrote on Monday. “Her personality or her funny, smart, loving nature has not changed in the slightest. She may have lost her hand and her leg, but she is here and for that we are truly grateful.”