Shark Attacks Woman Snorkeling In The Bahamas
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A couple on vacation got the scare of their life while snorkeling in the Bahamas.
"I was on one side of the boat and she was on the other side and she said a shark bit me but she was super calm and I thought she was kidding and all of a sudden she starts pulling herself up the swim ladder which I can barely even pull myself up the swim ladder," said Lacy Webb's husband, Britt Martin.
She pulled herself up on the boat. I helped her get in. I was looking and just a huge piece of her was missing.
The shark had bitten off a beach ball size chunk of her torso.
They tried to stem the bleeding while rushing her to land. They were able to secure an air rescue to Fort Lauderdale.
"I was just worried she wasn't going to make it. You know life without her is kind of flesh…I was scared to death," said Martin.
Doctors at Memorial Regional Hospital were astonished at Webb's composure. Through the ordeal she never lost consciousness.
"It's an injury that in another part of the body would have certainly been fatal but in here situation it was relatively controllable and I don't know if I would have considered her lucky but I think it's a half full, half empty type of glass and I would consider her extremely lucky to have survived," said Dr. Andrew Rosenthal.
On Thursday, the crew at Trinity Air Ambulance at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport relived the moment they received an emergency call from a Bahamian hospital alerting them of a woman with serious shark bite.
"We didn't know what we were gonna find given the report from the doctor," said Chief Flight Nurse Joe Falise.
Falise said said the Trinity team was airborne with life saving equipment within an hour and had Lacy loaded up on one of their plane's within minutes of touchdown in the Bahamas. Falise said Lacy's injury was bad but her spirits were miraculous.
"Her mental state was as if nothing had happened to her," he explained. "Awake, alert, talking to us the whole time."
Lacy has now had two surgeries. One operation yielded a permanent reminder of her shark encounter.
"During the second surgery, we removed one of the shark teeth that was embedded in her flank," said Rosenthal.
"She's just tough and it's a miracle that she's alive. She really owes it to herself. She's the one that stayed so calm through the whole ordeal," said Martin.
For the role they played, Falise and Trinity Air's Chief Flight Officer Tor Skroder are proud to have provided a speedy and potentially life saving service.
"Knowing that our response time might have been a contributing factor to her being here today is very satisfying," Skroder said.
"One of my prouder moments in life is being able to make a difference and I think Trinity Air Ambulance allows us the opportunity to really make a difference," Falise said.
WATCH Joan Murray's report, click here.
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