Great White Shark – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Martin Prochazkacz
A 13-year-old girl successfully fought off a shark in the waters off Fort Pierce, Florida, and is now recovering from bites on her body, arm, finger, and knee.
Ella Reed lives across the street from the beach, but she encountered what she believes to be a bull shark for the first time on Thursday.
“I remember just breathing really heavily, and then when it latched on to my stomach, not being able to breathe at all because I was like, ‘What the heck is happening?'” Reed stated this in an interview with “TODAY” on Monday.
After feeling the shark bite her stomach, the rising eighth-grader said she blocked it with her arm. She then claimed to have called for a friend swimming nearby to swim to safety before battling the shark off once more.
“It bit me first in the stomach. “And right when it bit me in the stomach, I shoved my arm where it was biting me, so it didn’t get my stomach and instead got my arm,” Reed explained. “Then I hit it with my other hand, like I was hitting its nose or face.”
Reed stated that she climbed out of the water and FaceTimed her brother for assistance because she didn’t believe her mother was at home. Devin Reed, her mother, admitted on “TODAY” that she initially mistook her daughter for joking.
“I thought she was joking at first, but then she says, ‘I’m not joking!'” “She took the camera and panned it on her body, and I just kind of froze and freaked out,” she explained. “Her first thought was to tell her friend to run, not to seek assistance. She was rescuing a pal.”
Her mother stated that she raced outside as the 13-year-old was riding a golf cart up from the beach and immediately got her into a car and took her to the fire department.
“I thought that would be much quicker and better for her, to get her into the best hands as soon as possible,” she explained. “And then they took her to the E.R.”
Her daughter received 19 stitches in total, five on her body and fourteen on her leg.
Ella Reed said it’s difficult to sleep after the attack, but she’s determined to return to the beach and pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist.
Her mother also stated that her daughter is proud of her scars.
“She’s like, ‘If I went through it, I’m going to show it to people,'” Devin Reed explained. “No way, she’s not going to let me help her with those scars.”
This post first appeared on NBCNews.com.
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
