What It Was Like To Be Bitten By A Shark

I was bitten by a five foot black tip shark at Hilton Head Island beach on Mother’s Day. I actually wanted to go fishing at the Disney pier, but the tides were low. So we went to the beach instead.

My brother, Tai, and I were just splashing in waist deep water. It was really murky water. We were play fighting in the water, when all of a sudden I saw the shark’s nose come toward me and clamp down on my arm, then bolt off in a flash so fast. My first thought was, “Am I going to die?” Then I worried about Tai because he was right next to me in the water. I ran out of the water and straight to my mom. She wrapped her towel around my arm, put her arm around me and ran with me towards the lifeguards.

I just kept thinking “this isn’t real.” It was surreal and almost like an animated cartoon. When I looked down at my arm before it was wrapped up, I saw one big hole in it. I could see the lifeguard stand through the hole in my arm. Time got stupidly weird. I kept thinking it looked like one of those vintage Mickey Mouse cartoons that are playing on the TVs on the Disney Cruise. Especially when I ran. I felt like my movements were exaggerated and really goofy, like my knees were coming up really high and I was kicking a lot of sand with every step.

I didn’t feel any pain. I was in shock. It was so weird.

If I was in the Percy Jackson universe, I’d think my mom or dad must’ve done something horrible to Poseidon because I was being punished in the ocean.

I don’t know how much time passed because like I said time got stupid weird. I kept asking “when can I go to the hospital?” Everything seemed to take forever and I kept waiting for the ambulance.

When the ambulance finally came, I felt relief because I was finally going to go to the hospital to get fixed up. After the ambulance ride, they moved me to a helicopter to take me to the hospital. I kept waiting for my mom to come, but she wasn’t there.

It annoyed me that they were asking me too many questions like “What’s your name? How do you spell your name? What’s your birthday? How old are you?” and a million more. I didn’t want to talk. It felt exhausting to talk. I wanted to save my energy. I could have gone to sleep if they let me, but they wouldn’t stop talking to me and asking me questions. My brother said that maybe saved me. I just thought it was annoying.

I kept thinking one of two things was going to happen. I’m going to die or live. I didn’t believe either would happen. It was so weird and such a strange thing to try to explain. I didn’t think I was going to live. I didn’t think I was going to die. If I died, I would regret not saying I love you to my mom. I said silent prayers, like “God, please don’t let me lose my arm.” I honestly didn’t worry about losing my arm. I was really actually worried I was going to lose my fingers. My fingers were numb and I couldn’t feel them at all. I really didn’t want to lose my fingers.

When we got to the hospital, I felt more relief. They examined me, did an X-ray and hooked me up to an IV. I saw my cousin Bay get an IV the week before and thought I never wanted one of those. I also always thought I never, ever wanted to do surgery. But the day I got bit by a shark, I thought “I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do and I need surgery” and didn’t make a problem about it at all.

When I woke up from surgery, I was so thirsty. I just wanted water. I was just very thirsty and I didn’t want to talk.  My mom kept trying to talk to me and I just didn’t want to talk. I felt groggy and weird. When I was more awake, I checked to make sure I still had my fingers. I was so happy to see my fingers were still there. I was seriously worried I was going to lose my fingers. I was also really thankful that the shark just bit my arm and bolted off and that he didn’t bite off my fingers.

The biggest thing I learned about this is that the ocean is really dangerous. I learned a lot about sharks too. I learned that most sharks aren’t aggressive and don’t mean to hurt people. Except bull sharks. They’re mean. I don’t blame the shark that bit me. I think he just made a mistake. When he realized his mistake, he bolted off really fast. The biggest thing I learned about myself is that I’m really strong and tough.