The young Addison Bethea, 17, who was attacked last Thursday by a shark in waters near a beach in northwestern Florida and suffered “devastating damage” to one leg, was scheduled for a second intervention this Saturday, according to hospital sources.
The outcome of the surgery at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH), the medical center to which she was airlifted from Keaton Beach, is unknown at this time.
The young woman was collecting “scallops”, a type of mollusk similar to the scallop that occurs on the beaches of Florida, when she was bitten several times by a 9-foot, 2.7-meter-long shark with which, according to the father of Bethea, Shane Bethea, had to “fight” and hit the shark to make it leave her.
She finally managed to get away with the help of her brother, Rhett Willingham, who is a firefighter and emergency medical technician and put her on a boat that was at the scene and made a tourniquet to control the bleeding, which “saved her life”, as his father said.
Once on the ground Addison was able to be airlifted to Bixler Trauma & Emergency Center at TMH and stabilized and underwent emergency surgery to restore blood flow to her right leg.
According to a TMH statement, the shark attack caused Addison devastating soft tissue damage to her affected leg.
According to TMH, this Saturday she was to undergo a second surgery to further investigate the extent of the damage to her leg and determine what treatment options are available to save her.
“Addison has a long journey to recovery, but she was in good spirits today, surrounded by her family at Tallahassee Memorial Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” the hospital said.
Addison’s family thanked their community in Taylor County (northwest Florida) and all who have reached out to “offer their prayers and support during this difficult time.”
According to the International Shark Attack File, an entity linked to the University of Florida, this state is where the most shark attacks on humans occur.
In 2021 there were 28 cases in Florida, which means 38% of the total that occurred that year worldwide, when there were a total of 73 unprovoked, of them 9 fatal, and 39 provoked.