17-Year-Old Teen Faces Leg Amputation After Surviving Shark Attack in Florida

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - JULY 25: The teeth and jaw of a Great White Shark are displayed after research into the biological mechanics of the predator July 25, 2007 in Sydney, Australia. Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) including Dan Huber from the the University of Tampa, Florida in the USA, plan to remove muscles from the head of several sharks in order to create a digital shark, to help determine it's bio mechanics and potential "bite force".
(Photo : Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

The adolescent who suffered a shark assault the other week in Tallahassee, Florida, apparently awaits amputation from one of her legs.

Shark Attacks 17-Year-Old Teen in Florida

Addison Bethea, 17, of neighboring Perry, went scalloping in intertidal zone off the edge of Keaton Beach on Thursday until a shark charged and attacked her.

Officials and eyewitnesses are unable to determine the kind of shark that mauled Bethea, while some who witnessed the incident afterwards believed that the creature was around 9 feet long. Bethea is expected to have her right leg amputated on Tuesday as the shark gripped over onto top portion of her leg, according to CBS Miami.

In a prior visit at the health center where she is being treated, Bethea described how her elder brother, fireman Rhett Willingham, succeeded to drive away the shark and offer medical help right away upon dragging her to escape.

According to The Guardian, Bethea and her brother scalloped that lasted for approximately two hours then proceeded to the penultimate area, clearly for just about 15 minutes, and they were moving near the sailboat as Bethea experienced like something of a pull.

Bethea then remembers desperately trying to hit the shark in the snout however being powerless to do so due to its strange stance. The shark as told by Bethea then did try to drag her underneath since they were in around six feet below the surface.

Willingham informed CBS News Miami that he was just roughly eight feet away from Bethea when he overheard her cry.

In his statement, he claimed that he rose and ready to switch over to check whatever was happening on since something startled his sister, plus she was beneath ocean, and when she came out, there was bloodshed everywhere around her, and Willingham said that could see the shark from his distance.

Willingham rescued Bethea from the shark's mouth prior to actually transferring her to a sailboat and placing a provisional bandage to her injured leg to reduce excessive bleeding.

Michele Murphy, the siblings' mother, thanked Willingham and termed her daughter's escape a miracle.

"By clinical practice guidelines, my daughter ought not be living today," Murphy said.

"It's a wonder she lived, and I suppose if Rhett hadn't been with her when it occurred, we'd be in a completely serious situation already."

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Young Teen Faces Surgery to Amputate Leg

Despite the fact that Bethea has a lengthy recuperation, the girl is enthusiastic about eventually going to the ocean.

For Bethea there is no need to be afraid of the sea, and she encourages those others to not be frightened of the water. As for her she is intending to get in the water once again once she recovers and get well, and stressed out that she will still continue doing what I absolutely adore; not letting dread take hold.

The incident on Thursday is the newest in a disturbing series of comparable instances. Shark assaults climbed globally in 2021, after many seasons of decline, with higher documented in the United States than just about other foreign nation.

Approximately 40% of the 73 retaliatory shark attacks documented worldwide originated in Florida. In comparison, the National Weather Service predicts that roughly 270 individuals are hit by thunderbolt in the United States annually.