Standing on the edge of the boat, I looked out at the crystal-clear water of the Atlantic and smiled.
I was five days into a holiday with my family in the Florida Keys in June this year, and we’d spent the day at a hidden beach, before driving our hired speed boat back to the mainland, where we were staying at my in-laws’ holiday home.
Life leading up to our holiday had been busy, juggling work and the kids, and we’d been so excited about getting away for a fortnight.
With time for one final swim after the girls had splashed in the water before climbing back out, I jumped off the boat. However, as soon as my body plunged into the water, I felt something hard.
At first, I thought I’d hit the side of the boat, but then to my horror, I quickly realised I couldn’t feel or move my legs. Suddenly the water around me turned bright red and I begged Luke, who was still on the boat, to help me. I didn’t know what had happened as Luke pulled me back on board, where the girls were crying in fear.
In agonising pain, I looked down and saw huge puncture marks on my right leg and a gaping wound on my right thigh from my knee to my hip, which blood was gushing out of. That was when it hit me – I’d been bitten by a shark.
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Luke grabbed a rope and tied it around my leg as a tourniquet, before immediately starting the 25-minute journey back to shore. As the girls sobbed, he called 911 and told them we needed an ambulance to be waiting at the quay.
Because none of us saw the shark, it felt surreal, but I must have landed on it and disturbed it.
The thought that it could have attacked the girls, who had been swimming just before me, was horrifying. We’d seen small sharks in the waters there before, but attacks aren’t common at all.
As we neared shore, I started to lose consciousness due to the blood loss, and I remember Luke shouting: ‘Keep your eyes open, Lindsay, you can do this!’
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As soon as the boat docked, paramedics rushed on board, tying a fresh tourniquet round my wound, before a helicopter rushed me to hospital in Miami, while Luke stayed with the kids.
Lying on a stretcher, with paramedics giving me a blood transfusion, my only thought was that I wanted to live and go home to my family.
At hospital, I was rushed into theatre for a series of blood transfusions and the first of three reconstructive operations on my leg.
When I came round from the anaesthetic, doctors told me that the way I landed in the water – in a cannonball position – probably saved my life, because it meant the bite didn’t sever any main arteries.
The surgeon told me that at 36 inches, it was the largest shark bite he’d seen, but thankfully my leg could be saved.
Luke arrived the next day without the girls, who were being looked after by a neighbour, and I spent nine days in hospital with him by my side.
The girls visited with my parents, who’d flown in to be with us, but they were scared by all the machines in intensive care and my bandaged leg.
On July 7, I left hospital on crutches, and I’ve been recuperating at home since. My wound has healed, but I still have a scar and haven’t regained all the sensation in my leg. I have weekly physiotherapy and am now off crutches, but walk with a limp when I’m tired.
We’re due to return to Florida soon, and people have asked if I’ll go back in the water.
I feel nervous, but I don’t want my daughters to grow up fearing the ocean, so for them – and myself – I plan to swim, and I’ll encourage them to join me. Right now, they’re very afraid of the water, but I hope that will change.
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We never found out what type of shark bit me, but a large tiger shark was spotted that day by a local fisherman. I don’t feel anger – either I scared it or it mistook me for a large fish.
It was a holiday to remember for all the wrong reasons, but I’ve taken from it the lesson that life can change in a heartbeat, so it’s important to always live in the moment.
BTW
Great white, tiger and bull sharks are the most likely species to attack humans.
In August this year, a woman was bitten by a blue shark while snorkelling off the coast of Cornwall.
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