Lulu Gribbin, 15, Loses Limbs After Florida Shark Attack That Injured Two Others

Lulu Gribbin, 15, was one of the three victims of a shark attack that took place on June 7 off the coast of Walton County, Florida.

The teen was swimming near the first sandbar at Seacrest Beach, approximately four miles from shore, when the attack occurred. Seacrest Beach is located along Scenic Highway 30A, a road that runs along the Gulf Coast between Destin and Panama City Beach.

According to Lulu’s mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, she noticed that everyone on the beach was looking out at the water and heard there was a shark. Lulu and her twin, Ellie, were waist-deep in the water, looking for sand dollars just moments before. Ann feared the worst and called her daughters' name but got no response. She panicked, ran toward the water, and found Lulu on the ground. 

"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. Her eyes were open. I had no idea how long she had been there or what had happened," Ann wrote on CaringBridge.com.

“Almost immediately the beach truck was there and the EMT's loaded her onto a board and put her back in the truck and wheeled her off, she was air lifted away,” she added. Surgeons informed Ann that Lulu’s left hand was bitten off, and her right leg was to be amputated. She lost two-thirds of the blood in her body. "They also told us that Lulu may be intubated for the next week or so and would need 4-5 surgeries to finalize her amputations."

Miraculously, after many prayers from friends and family, Lulu's vitals returned to normal, and she no longer needed the surgeries. As she settled, the young girl's first words were: "I made it."

Lulu then recalled the horrific shark attack on the beach that day. She and her five friends were in the water, when all of a sudden, the shark bit her hand, then her leg, and attacked her friend's foot. A man risked his life to save Lulu and pulled her out, while a younger boy also helped carry her to shore. Once she was onshore, as fate would have it, two doctors and two young women – one of whom was a nurse – immediately surrounded Lulu and applied tourniquets to her wounds to stop the bleeding.

"These individuals put tourniquets on Lulu's wounds. Which I believe was crucial to saving Lulu's life. She was then taken by the beach truck and airlifted to Sacred Heart in Pensacola, where we are now," Ann wrote.

"I am eternally grateful for the 3 surgeons and all the nursing staff and doctors here at this hospital who saved Lulu. I am grateful for the doctors and nurses on the beach that day. I am grateful for the EMT's on the beach and the crew in the air," she added. "I am grateful for the individual who pulled her out of the water. 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."

Should You Avoid 30A Beaches?

Just an hour and a half before Lulu and her friend were attacked, a 45-year-old woman was swimming with her husband west of Seacrest Beach when she was bitten by a shark. "She received significant trauma to the midsection and pelvic area," South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford said at a press conference, "as well as amputation of the left lower arm."

Even a Destin charter boat Captain named Gary Jarvis told The Northwest Florida Daily News he's seen an increase in sharks in the Gulf of Mexico in recent years. “There are more people that swim in the water than before, and there are more sharks in the water than ever before. So, the incident rate of shark bites is only going to go in one direction,” Jarvis said. 

Given all of these shark attacks and sightings, should Americans stay away from Florida beaches, especially along the 30A coastline? Surprisingly, experts are saying not to worry. Animal care specialist Eric Hovland from The Florida Aquarium in Tampa says the odds of getting bitten by a shark remain extremely low.

"When we're out in the water, splashing about, we're sending out signals. Sharks come in to investigate ... they call it a test bite. When a shark comes in, they don't have hands, so they're going to feel that environment with their teeth," Hovland told WFTs Tampa Bay. "It's an exploratory bite. Another way of trying to determine is that really food, and I think the answer is no because when a person is bit, typically, the shark is nowhere to be seen. It's often not identified."

"Make sure you're not by yourself, don't go out too far, be careful around structures or where you might see fish shoaling. They like to go along where shallow becomes deep quickly, might be where small fish are, sharks may be hunting there," he noted.

When The Destin Log asked Gavin Naylor, the director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, what beachgoers in the area should do to protect themselves from shark encounters, he said to wear polarized sunglasses, stay away from bait fish, remove reflective jewelry, stay in groups, and avoid swimming at dawn or dusk.

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