The 9-year-old girl who was bitten by a shark and nearly lost her hand has spoken about the attack.
Leah Lendel said she was snorkeling on June 11 when “something hard bit me and then tried to tug me away” near Boca Grande, Florida, ABC News reported.
She said she didn’t see the shark, only felt the bite, the Fort Myers News-Press reported.
“Then I pick up my hand and it’s all in blood. Then I started screaming with my mom,” she told reporters during a news conference at Tampa General Hospital.
Leah’s mother Nadia Lendel said, “There was so much blood in the water right next to me. In an instant, I knew it’s a shark attack.”
Lendel said she screamed for her husband while Leah ran to shore.
“Her arm was almost falling off…” Jay Lendel said, according to the News-Press. “I figured out that it was a shark. ... So we quickly got out of the water.”
“I also didn’t think it was possible because I was holding her hand in my hand and I didn’t think there was any chance at all of saving it,” he said, according to NBC News. “I’m so thankful to the surgeons for making such a miracle.”
Leah had to be flown two hours away from the beach by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital, which had experts who could reattach her hand.
Within an hour of getting to the medical facility, she was having the surgery performed.
First, they had to stabilize the bone, then, using blood vessels from Leah’s leg, they got blood flowing back to her hand.
Dr. Alfred Hess, who worked to save Leah’s hand, has seen injuries like a shark attack before. He’s also seen injuries from alligators and lions, NBC News reported.
“A shark injury is both a curse and a blessing. In this case, because the shark’s teeth are so sharp, the cut through the wrist is clean and not jagged. It doesn’t ruin all the tissue. So, we have good tissue to work with and put it back together in a timely fashion,” Hess said.
They only had about six hours after the bite because muscle tissue starts to break down after that.
Once able, she will have to have physical therapy. She will also have to have the pins that are keeping everything in place removed.
Right now, she has her hand resting inside a foam pillow that looks like a large wedge of cheese to keep her hand elevated, the News-Press reported.
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