Current:Home > StocksShark attack victims are recovering from life-altering injuries in Florida panhandle-LoTradeCoin
Shark attack victims are recovering from life-altering injuries in Florida panhandle
View Date:2024-12-23 20:27:39
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Days after a shark attack in the Florida panhandle cost teenager Lulu Gribbin her left hand and right leg, her mother said the first words she uttered after surgery were “I made it.”
Gribbin was one of three people injured in shark attacks Friday over the course of about 90 minutes in Walton County.
In a post on Caringbridge.org, Lulu Gribbin’s mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, said the attack happened during her first mother-daughter beach trip with Lulu. She recounted the scene as “something out of a movie” and said her daughter was on a sand bar in waist-high water looking for sand dollars when she was bitten.
A man grabbed her uninjured arm, pulled Lulu out and was quickly surrounded by beachgoers, including two doctors and a nurse. The teenager, who is from Mountain Brook, Alabama, was then airlifted to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola.
“At this point we will have multiple surgeries in the days to come and our lives will be forever changed,” Ann Blair Gribbin wrote. “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.”
The first victim in Friday’s attacks was Elisabeth Foley, a 45-year-old wife and mother from Virginia who lost her left hand and suffered severe injuries to her midsection. Gribbin, 15, was the second person bitten, and her friend McCray Faust suffered minor injuries to her foot.
Walton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Corey Dobridnia said in a statement Monday that the victims are in stable condition despite “life-altering injuries.” Dobridnia also encouraged beachgoers to watch for beach flags and be aware of their surroundings in the water.
Authorities closed area beaches Friday and posted warning flags indicating high hazards on Saturday. Monday morning, yellow flags flew to indicate moderate surf or currents, according to the Visit South Walton website.
“We are guests in the Gulf,” Dobridnia wrote. “We all must accept some amount of risk when entering the water. That DOES NOT take away from these two ladies whose lives are forever changed.”
Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Museum of Natural History’s shark research program, said he believed the presence of menhaden fish — bait fish that sharks are attracted to — may have led to the attacks. Globally, about 50 to 80 people are bitten each year and about five die, he said.
In Florida, the victims “just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time,” he said.
Foley’s husband, Ryan Foley, wrote a statement to their church, Winns Baptist Church in Glen Allen, Virginia, saying his wife is “hanging in there and has a super positive attitude.”
“Thank the Lord she is so tough and in great physical condition. Her faith is what’s getting her through, coupled with countless other blessings,” Foley wrote.
veryGood! (47)
Related
- Ariana Grande Shares Dad's Emotional Reaction to Using His Last Name in Wicked Credits
- Inside Lindsay Lohan and Bader Shammas’ Grool Romance As They Welcome Their First Baby
- Warming and Drying Climate Puts Many of the World’s Biggest Lakes in Peril
- Extreme Heat Is Already Straining the Mexican Power Grid
- Nicky Hilton Shares Her Christmas Plans With Paris, the Secret To Perfect Skin & More Holiday Gift Picks
- Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez Break Up After 2 Years of Marriage
- Country’s Largest Grid Operator Must Process and Connect Backlogged Clean Energy Projects, a New Report Says
- Record Investment Merely Scratches the Surface of Fixing Black America’s Water Crisis
- Birth control and abortion pill requests have surged since Trump won the election
- A New Battery Intended to Power Passenger Airplanes and EVs, Explained
Ranking
- Cowboys owner Jerry Jones responds to CeeDee Lamb's excuse about curtains at AT&T Stadium
- Jennifer Lopez Teases Midnight Trip to Vegas Song Inspired By Ben Affleck Wedding
- As Youngkin Tries to Pull Virginia Out of RGGI, Experts Warn of Looming Consequences for Low-Income Residents and Threatened Communities
- Not Winging It: Birders Hope Hard Data Will Help Save the Species They Love—and the Ecosystems Birds Depend On
- ONA Community Introduce
- Gigi Hadid Released After Being Arrested for Marijuana in Cayman Islands
- States Test an Unusual Idea: Tying Electric Utilities’ Profit to Performance
- Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez Break Up After 2 Years of Marriage
Recommendation
-
Fantasy football buy low, sell high: 10 trade targets for Week 11
-
Extreme Heat Is Already Straining the Mexican Power Grid
-
Why Teen Mom's Maci Bookout Didn't Think She'd Ever Get to a Good Place With Ex Ryan Edwards
-
Virtual Power Plants Are Coming to Save the Grid, Sooner Than You Might Think
-
Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia Explains Why She’s Not Removing Tattoo of Ex Zach Bryan’s Lyrics
-
Lawsuit Asserting the ‘Rights of Salmon’ Ends in a Settlement That Benefits The Fish
-
Restoring Seabird Populations Can Help Repair the Climate
-
James Hansen Warns of a Short-Term Climate Shock Bringing 2 Degrees of Warming by 2050