Mountain Brook teenager loses hand and leg in rare shark attack in Florida: “I did it”

The mother of a Mountain Brook teenager who lost a hand and a leg in a rare series of shark attacks on a Florida beach Friday afternoon released an update Sunday on her daughter’s condition and details of the dramatic incident.

Lulu Gribbin was one of two teenagers injured in one of two shark attacks within 90 minutes on a four-mile-long beach in Walton County.

The other youth, McCray Faust, suffered minor injuries, according to earlier reports. There was no update on her condition on Sunday.

About an hour and a half before the attack on the two Mountain Brook girls, a 45-year-old woman lost a foot in an attack. HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital told WJHG TV on Saturday that the woman’s condition has since stabilized.

On Sunday afternoon, a vigil for the youth of Mountain Brook was held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Meanwhile, authorities in Walton County, Florida, are patrolling the coast and urging beachgoers to be cautious in the water following the attack.

“Lifeguards are flying yellow and purple flags due to moderate surf hazards and the presence of dangerous marine life,” the fire district said.

Gribbin’s mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, released details of the attack and her daughter’s condition on the Caring Bridge website on Sunday.

She said Lulu and her twin sister Ellie went to the beach on Wednesday with some of their friends and their mothers.

“It was our first mother-daughter beach trip and we were all incredibly excited. Our first two days at the beach were amazing, hanging out with friends and eating together,” Gribbin posted.

On Friday afternoon, “we went back to the beach to the girls and everyone was standing on the beach looking in the water. No one was in the water and we just heard there was a shark and started looking too,” the post continued.

“My friend called her two daughters and they didn’t answer. So she panicked and said something was wrong and ran, and we all did.

“The beach was full of people just watching. I came across a group of people surrounding someone lying on the ground and looked down. There was Lulu. Ellie found me and said, ‘Mom, that’s Lulu.’ I saw her wounds on her leg and started screaming.

“She was lifeless, her eyes were closed, her mouth was white and pale. The wound on her leg or whatever was left of her leg looked like something out of a movie. I finally made it back to her and held her hand and she saw me and I told her I was there,” Lulu’s mother wrote.

“Her eyes were open. I had no idea how long she had been there or what had happened. Almost immediately the beach truck was there and the paramedics loaded her onto a board, put her back in the truck and rolled her away, she was airlifted away,” the post said.

Gribbin learned that her daughter was taken to Sacred Heart in Pensacola, a drive she said took an hour and 20 minutes.

“We prayed the entire trip. My friend who was driving was a gift from God to me and Ellie and knew exactly what to pray for. All I could say over and over was please stay alive, please breathe. No one we called could give us any information,” she wrote.

When they reached the hospital, Lulu was already undergoing surgery.

“You have answered my prayer that she is alive and her vital signs are OK,” she wrote.

Surgeons told the family that the shark had bitten off Lulu’s left hand and that her right leg had to be amputated from the knee to the hip.

“She has also lost two-thirds of her blood. Of course, no one wants that for their child, but she is alive. They have also told us that Lulu may be intubated in the next week or so and will require 4-5 surgeries to complete her amputations,” the post said.

Lulu did not undergo surgery as expected on Saturday and her vital signs have improved, Gribbin wrote.

“She did so well that they finally took the tube out of her throat and she was breathing on her own. That was a big first step. Once she calmed down, her first words to us were, ‘I did it.’ And boy, did she,” the post continued.

Her mother said Lulu remembered going with friends to a sandbar in waist-deep water to search for sand dollars.

“I’m not sure who noticed the shark first, but Lulu said it bit her on the hand and then her leg and then attacked her other friend and caught her foot. Lulu said a man grabbed her other arm and pulled her out and another younger boy helped him carry her to shore,” the post said.

“On shore there were two doctors and two other young women, one of whom was a nurse, surrounding Lulu. These persons applied tourniquets to Lulu’s wounds. I believe this was crucial in saving Lulu’s life,” Gribbin wrote.

“I am eternally grateful to the three surgeons and all the nursing staff and doctors here at this hospital who saved Lulu. I am grateful to the doctors and nurses on the beach that day. I am grateful to the paramedics on the beach and the crew in the air. I am grateful to the man who pulled her out of the water.”

Lulu will undergo several operations “and our lives will be changed forever,” her mother said.

“Lulu is strong, beautiful, brave and so much more that I can’t even list. God has a plan for her and we will be here to support her in any way we can.”

Lulu, her mother wrote, “is afraid of not fitting in and of people making fun of her. I need prayers for everyone to understand and show compassion toward her. I also need prayers for Lulu to know that her hand and leg do not define who she is… Sweet Lulu is more worried about her friends than herself, which is a testament to her character.”

Crowds of church members came to the Sunday service to help and pray for the young people and their families.

The church was packed, every pew and every stall filled as candles were lit in honor of Lulu and McCray. The sounds of prayers and songs could be heard throughout the church throughout the service.

The church also ensured that pastors were available for all those struggling with the consequences of the attack.

“This extended community stands behind you,” church pastor Richmond Webster told the families.

It was not clear whether one shark was responsible for both attacks or what species of shark attacked the three.

“All I can say is that these incidents are very rare,” Demian Chapman, scientist and director of the Center for Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

There are more sharks in the Gulf of Mexico than in previous years, Chapman said.

“After years of overfishing, shark numbers in the Gulf have definitely recovered,” he said. “After being severely decimated, they’re back out there, so to speak.”

“It is even rarer that two events involving three people take place on the same day,” he said. “The probability of that happening is astronomically low.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.