A 17-year-old Florida beachgoer was attacked by a shark, but she survived because she retaliated and her brother acted immediately.
A shark bit Addison Bethea as she was gathering scallops close to Keaton Beach, which is close to Grassy Island. The water level was around 5 feet above the ground.
“The next thing I knew, someone had grabbed my leg, and I immediately thought, “That’s not right. When I turned around, I saw an enormous shark, the young man told Good Morning America.
When a shark bit Addison, it was so painful that she was unable to punch the shark in the nose like she had learned to do on Animal Planet. She fought it nonetheless and made an effort to remove it using only her hands.
Rhett Willingham, Addison’s brother, jumped into the water to assist her when he spotted the blood.
“She came back up,” he remarked, “and I saw blood and all, and I saw the shark.”
So I swam over, grabbed her, and tried to push on her to push them all apart. He simply kept showing up. I thus took hold of her, swam backward, kicked him, and called for assistance.
Rhett, a 22-year-old EMT and firefighter who works in Taylor County, continually kicked and thrashed the shark to free his sister. He seized her when she was free and loaded her onto his boat.
Rhett loaded Addison onto his boat after a passing boater realized that they needed assistance.
To stem the bleeding, he created a 4-foot patch out of boat rope and tied it around her right upper thigh. Rhett used the boat to return to land before making an ambulance call.
Addison was seriously injured and had to be transported nearly 80 miles to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, where she was first described as being in critical condition.
She was immediately in need of surgery and was put back together. It was unfortunate that her right leg was so severely injured.
According to Shane, Addison’s father, “The shark bit her right leg, and the front quad muscle was destroyed.”
It was awful; the wound was quite severe. A vein from the left leg was transformed into an artery for the right leg by the vascular surgeon.
Her leg won’t be amputated at the hip, say the doctors. The skin on her lower leg will also be preserved as much as possible by the surgeons so that devices can be attached to it.
The fact that she is still alive is the most crucial factor. said Shane.
Even though she recently experienced something traumatic, Addison is joyful. Additionally, her friends visited her in the ICU.
“When she woke up, she began typing on her phone to chat to us. On Facebook, Shane wrote, “She was in a good mood and making jokes about beating up the shark.”
Addison’s first request was for a Wendy’s Frosty.
The adolescent has already planned a second surgery to assess the extent of the injury and choose the best course of action for saving her limb.
A shark that was around 9 feet long bit Addison, but the sheriff’s office is unsure of what kind it was.
Additionally, they cautioned anyone swimming or searching for scallops in the vicinity to use caution.
According to the sheriff’s office, swimmers and scallopers should be cautious around sharks.
Don’t swim alone, keep a safe distance from fishermen, avoid sandbars and other areas where sharks tend to congregate, avoid swimming near large schools of fish, and keep your movements in the water controlled.
To contribute to Addison’s hospital bills, send a check to the Buckeye Community Federal Credit Union with “Addison Bethea” written on the memo line. The address is 1825 S. Jefferson St., Perry, FL 32348.
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