A Colorado teenager who lost her leg in a shark attack in Belize over the summer described a feeling of playing “tug of war” with the dangerous sea creatures as they ripped off her limb and wounded her hands.
Annabelle Carlson, 15, was on a diving trip to the Lighthouse Reef near Half Moon Cay in the Gulf of Honduras with her family and a tour group when she hopped off the boat into the water and was immediately mauled by two sharks on Aug. 6.
Carlson attempted to fight off the first shark that swam out from under the boat upon jumping into the sea – with the second altering her life forever as tour operators with Belize Dive Pro attempted to rescue her from danger.
“As they’re pulling me in there’s a second shark that does bite my right leg,” Carlson told NBC News on Tuesday, explaining that she felt helpless during the “scary” ordeal.
“It was completely painless. It felt like a tugging feeling, which was weird. It felt like I was playing tug of war a little bit … My adrenaline was so much to the point where, like, I didn’t even feel the second shark attack my leg.”
Carlson recalled people on the boat she described as “guardian angels” throwing scuba tanks in the water to deter the sharks until she was back on the vessel.
Her mother, Kellie Carlson, said the brutal horror left her in shock and fearing for her eldest daughter’s life.
“As soon as they pulled her up, I knew right then and there I was going to have to do everything I could to save her life. Because basically her leg was missing from her knee to her ankle,” the mother told the outlet.
“All the soft tissue from her knee to her ankle was gone, and it was just her tibia and fibula. I wasn’t sure she was going to make it because she was sheet white.”
Carlson spent four months hospitalized undergoing seven painstaking surgeries – including one that initially amputated her leg – and battling a bacterial infection she will now spend the next six months treating with various antibiotics, the outlet reported.
The Aspen native was also fitted for a prosthetic leg – providing her with the motivation to resume her athletic activities, including lacrosse and skiing, and even get back in the ocean as she remains grateful to be alive.
“I wake up everyday feeling grateful, just because, I mean, I’m here, and I’m able to walk again, I’m so lucky to be able to do so,” Carlson said.
“I think this situation just really goes to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Because I do have my prosthetic now. I’d say I’m thriving, right? Hopefully getting back into the ocean as soon as possible, too.”
