TEEN LOST LEG TO 9-FOOT SHARK WHILE SCALLOPING IN FLORIDA
A Florida teen scalloping in five feet of water was bitten by a shark about nine feet long, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office said. The Addison Bethea shark attack ended with an amputation and 37 days in the hospital.
Addison Bethea, 17, of Perry, was hunting scallops near Grassy Island, just off Keaton Beach in Taylor County, on June 30, 2022. The sheriff’s office said the shark’s species was unknown.
“And the next thing I know something latches onto my leg and I was like that’s not right. And then I look and it’s a big old shark,” Bethea told Good Morning America from her hospital bed.
She said she tried to remember what she had seen on TV.
“Then I remember from watching the Animal Planet to like…punch [it] in the nose or something like that. And I couldn’t get around to his nose the way he bit me.”
The rescue in the water
Her brother, Rhett Willingham, a firefighter and emergency medical technician, went in after her.
“So then I swam over there, grabbed her, and then pushed them all, kind of trying to separate them. And he just kept coming. So I grabbed her, swam backwards and kicked him and then yelled for help,” Willingham said.
The family said Willingham put a tourniquet on her leg to control the bleeding while a good Samaritan brought them back to shore by boat.
Bethea was airlifted to a Tallahassee hospital with serious injuries. Tallahassee Memorial Hospital initially listed her in critical condition, and doctors performed emergency surgery to stabilize her. The hospital said her right leg had extensive soft-tissue damage.
Her father, Shane Bethea, posted an update that the Tallahassee Democrat quoted. He said she was alert by Friday morning and that the outlook for the damaged leg was uncertain.
“She isn’t out of the woods by any stretch, but she is alive and that’s what’s most important to us,” he wrote.
The newspaper also cited the International Shark Attack File program manager as saying it was the first shark attack recorded in Taylor County.
The sheriff’s office cautioned swimmers and scallopers to stay alert. It advised people to avoid swimming alone or near fishermen, sandbars and large schools of fish, and to avoid erratic movements in the water.
What happened next
A second surgery was planned for Saturday, July 2, 2022, with the stated goal of saving her leg. The hospital said in a statement, “Addison has a long journey to recovery, but she was in good spirits today, surrounded by her family in Tallahassee Memorial’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.”
CNN reported on July 4, 2022, that an above-knee amputation was scheduled for Tuesday. Bethea told the network she was not scared off the water for good.
“I lived 17 years without a shark attack. I’m fine with going back,” she said.
News4JAX reported that surgeons amputated her lower leg above the knee on July 6, 2022, after several surgeries. The station said she sustained major nerve and vascular damage and lost her quadriceps.
The station described Bethea as a cheerleader and tennis player at Taylor County High School in Perry. Her family sought fundraiser support for her future needs, including rehabilitation and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg.
She went home on August 12, 2022, after 37 days at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, FOX 35 reported. Her care included stays in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, the Pediatric Unit and the Rehabilitation Center.
The hospital said she had several successful surgeries to save as much of her leg as possible and was on the path to recovery and eventual prosthesis use. Her family said it planned to continue outpatient rehabilitation and home health care.
