Update on shark attacks in Florida: Teenager’s first words after surgery

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

A 45-year-old woman and two teenagers were injured in separate attacks within hours of each other on Friday. All victims reportedly recovered from their injuries in the days that followed.

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 with the website CaringBridge on Sunday.

“(The surgeons said) that the shark had bitten off Lulu’s left hand and that they had to amputate half of her right leg from the knee to the hip,” Gribbin wrote. “She had also lost two-thirds of her blood. Of course, no one wants that for their child, but she is alive.”

“On Saturday … she did so well that they finally took the tube out of her throat and she was able to breathe on her own,” she added. “That was a big first step. When she calmed down, her first words to us were, ‘I did it.’ And boy, did she do it.”

Gribbin went on to say that Lulu described the attack while recovering in the hospital. She said the shark “bit her on the hand and then on the leg” as she waded near a sandbar with five friends in search of sand dollars.

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

“Lulu said a man grabbed her by the other arm and pulled her out, and another, younger boy helped him carry her to the shore,” Gribbin wrote. “When they reached the shore, two doctors and two other young women, one of them a nurse, were surrounding Lulu.”

“These people put tourniquets on Lulu’s wounds. I believe this was crucial in saving Lulu’s life,” she continued. “We will have several surgeries in the next few days and our lives will change forever. Lulu is strong, beautiful, brave and so much more that I can’t even list.”

In a follow-up update on Monday, Gribbin wrote that Lulu met two men at the hospital who “pulled the shark away” from her and “helped carry her to the beach,” and that she told the men “thank you for saving my life.” She also joked to a family member that “mommy and daddy are getting a handicapped parking spot because of their injuries.”

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

Adult victim Elisabeth Foley was attacked less than two hours earlier and about four miles from the scene 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 service that his wife is “hanging in there and has a super positive attitude” despite “having to take quite a lot,” according to WTVR.

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

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

Beaches near the attack sites, which had been temporarily closed on Friday, were reportedly reopened on Saturday and new warning flags had been put up.