The 17 year-old girl who was attacked by a shark last Thursday in waters near a beach in northwestern Florida (USA). USA) must undergo an operation to amputate his leg, local media reported this Sunday.
Addison Bethea, victim of a shark attack of about 9 feet (2.7 meters) in length, will enter the operating room on Tuesday with a view to amputating her leg above the knee, according to the local channel CBS Miami.
The young woman was in Keaton Beach collecting “scallops”, a type of mollusk similar to the I saw that it occurs on the beaches of Florida, when she was bitten several times by a shark that she had to hit to make it leave her.
“I tried to push him away from me and punch him in the nose, but he was in a weird position where I couldn’t really punch him in the nose. Then he tried to drag me under the water because we were about two meters under the water”, as the young woman told the media from the Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare hospital.
Addison managed to get away with the help of her brother, Rhett Willingham, firefighter and emergency medical technician, and who confronted the shark, after which he managed to get his sister on a boat and made a tourniquet to control the bleeding.
“My daughter , under medical standards, she shouldn’t be alive right now and I know it. It is a miracle that she survived this and I know that if Rhett had not been the one with her when it happened, we could be in a very different scenario right now, “said the girl’s mother, Michelle Murphy.
Once on the ground, Addison was airlifted to the medical center and stabilized and underwent emergency surgery to restore blood flow to the right leg.
According to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, the shark attack caused the young woman devastating damage to the soft tissue of the affected leg.
A Despite the traumatic attack, the young woman maintains her predilection for the sea. “I’m still going to go into the ocean when I heal and get better. I’m still going to do what I love, don’t let fear take over your life”, added Addison.
According to the International Shark Attack File, an entity linked to the University of Florida, this state is where the most shark attacks on humans occur.
In 2021 there were 28 cases in Florida, which means the 38 % of the total that occurred that year worldwide, when there were a total of 73 unprovoked, of nine of them deadly, and 38 provoked.
You may also be interested in:
–Young woman who was attacked by a shark in Florida waters must be operated on again
–Shark bit bather on New York beach: authorities launch alert2021–Man suffers serious injuries to the stomach and legs after being attacked by a shark in California