The Florida teen who suffered a severe leg injury when a shark attacked her near Tallahassee, Florida while she was searching for scallops is on the road to recovery after having a portion of her leg amputated.
Six days after the shark attack, the teen’s family shared a video of her taking her first steps after surgery.
Addison Bethea, 17 years old, was swimming with her family off Keaton Beach when a 9-foot shark bit her leg. She poked the shark in the eyes and punched it until her firefighter brother arrived to save her.
He was able to separate his sister from the shark and pull her onto a boat belonging to a stranger. She was rescued and transported by helicopter to a hospital in Tallahassee.
Both her family and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, where she is being treated, have provided updates on her health.
According to a hospital statement, since Addison’s arrival at TMH, doctors have been working to “save as much of her leg as possible and to optimize her long-term mobility.”
Her previous surgeries paved the way for Tuesday’s successful amputation of her right leg just above the knee.
Shane, Addison’s father, posted on GoFundMe that his daughter was in “extreme pain from the leg and was complaining of the bandage feeling too tight.”
He explained that she had surgery on Sunday morning to evaluate a hematoma she had developed. The wound was left open so that it could continue to drain in preparation for her upcoming surgery on Tuesday.
“Please continue to keep her in your prayers for God’s loving hands to reach down upon her. And please keep me and her mama in those prayers as well,” he wrote.
Addison has a long road to recovery ahead of her, but according to her family, she is in good spirits.