A teenager almost lost his arm when he was suddenly mauled by a shark as he reached for his surfboard.
Teddy Wittemann, 16, was surfing at Melbourne Beach, near Orlando, when he fell off his board in a swell and tried to grab it.
‘I was surfing with my buddy Baylor and after a wave I was reaching to grab my board and go back out,’ he said.
‘The shark bit around the inside of my elbow and forearm and held on while thrashing around for a second.’
Teddy said he saw the predator, which he thinks was at least five-ft long and likely a tiger shark, along the side of his body before it chomped on his arm.
He said it probably thought his limb was a fish and let go when it didn’t taste how it expected after taking out a chunk of his left arm.
Teddy was still 200ft from sure and had to swim with his mangled arm back to shore, yelling for help and knowing his blood could attract more sharks.
‘Thankfully Dave Crespi was on the beach with his wife [Toie] while I waved them down for help,’ he said.
‘Super thankful to all the first responders that were able to be there for me during all this.’
Crespi tied his shirt above the wound as a tourniquet while Toie called 911 and another neighbor who drove by let him use their phone to call his parents.
Teddy was treated at the scene by paramedics, then taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center.
Luckily, there was no major damage and he escaped with 30 stitches and was sent home after two days to recover with a cast on his arm for the next month.
‘I’m out of the hospital with no tendon or ligament damage. Feeling so blessed that it wasn’t worse,’ he said.
Teddy, who is part of the USA Junior Surfing U16 Boys Team, planned to return to surfing as soon as the doctor’s orders six-week rest was over.
He competes in the USA Surfing Prime series and hoped to qualify for the International Surfing Association World Junior Games one day.