Teen loses hand and leg in shocking Florida shark attack
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Caringbridge/Barrett Grant
Shark attacks seem to be becoming all too frequent in the US, and now two teens have been added to the list after being mauled by a shark.
The mother of one of the two girls who were attacked by a shark in Florida has expressed her horror over seeing her daughter looking ‘lifeless’ afterwards.
The teens were attacked over the weekend after going on their ‘first mother-daughter beach trip’, but ended up experiencing ‘something out of a movie’.
Lulu Gribbin, 15, was swimming on Friday, 7 June on the Florida coastline, which saw another teenager from Alabama -McCray Faust, 17 - bitten on the foot.
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According to WDHN, a 45-year-old woman, Elisabeth Foley, also lost part of her hand in the attack.
Ann Blair Gribbin and her daughters were enjoying their time with other friends from Birmingham when they found out that sharks were in the water.
Shortly after, Lulu’s twin sister Ellie broke the news of the terrible incident.
This comes after another woman was attacked an hour and a half earlier, which officials believe to be caused by the same shark.
Horrified by what she saw, the mom wrote on caringbridge.org: “I saw her wounds on her leg and started to scream. She was lifeless her eyes closed mouth white and pale.
"The wound on her leg or all that was left of her leg was 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.”
In a stroke of luck, two doctors were vacationing together at the beach and provided what is thought to have been life-saving intervention to Lulu, who was then airlifted to the Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
Unfortunately, Lulu lost a hand and part of her leg in the horrifying attack, but thankfully she lived.
The mom wrote: “We prayed the entire way.”
When the mother found out that her daughter had lost her left hand in the attack her right leg had to be amputated, and that she lost two-thirds of the blood in her body, she said: “Of course, no one wants that for your child but she is alive.”
On Saturday, Lulu was able to have her tube removed and her vitals were doing well.
Ann wrote: “This was a first big step. Once she was settled her first words to us were ‘I made it.’ And boy she did.”
Having expressed her thankfulness to those who helped her daughter that day, she believes that it’s all part of God’s plan.
She penned: “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.
"God has a plan for her, and we will be there to support her every way we can."