After spending five days at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, the teenage survivor of a Walton County shark attack has been transferred to a new medical facility.
Lulu Gribbin, a teenager from Mountain Brook, Alabama, had her right leg amputated following a shark attack on June 7 during a mother-daughter vacation at Rosemary Beach. She received treatment at Sacred Heart since her life-saving surgery, but her mother, Ann Gribbin, announced their decision to leave the hospital.
“I am writing this to you from the back of an AirMed jet,” Ann Gribbin wrote on CaringBridge Wednesday night. “Lulu is being airlifted today. Joe and I were able to talk with a specialist who is a pioneer in multi-extremity amputees.
“We made the decision, not lightly, to have the remainder of her surgeries and rehab done in another hospital setting,” she added. “I prayed for God to help Joe and me make the best decision for Lulu regarding her care, and we believe this will give Lulu the best opportunity to live as normal a life as possible with two prosthetics.”
Lulu Gribbin was one of three shark attack victims within two hours and four miles of each other. Her friend was also bitten on the foot during the attack, and roughly 90 minutes earlier, a 45-year-old woman was attacked and survived her injuries.
Ann Gribbin expressed her deepest gratitude to the Sacred Heart staff for saving her daughter’s life and providing continuous care.
As the family left the hospital, many of the staff who worked with Lulu Gribbin gathered to bid her farewell.
“Once outside the double doors, the halls were lined on either side for what seemed like eternity with all the nurses and doctors who helped save Lulu and those who have been with her ever since, and those just from other parts of the hospital,” Ann Gribbin wrote. “They were cheering, playing music, and spraying silly string.”
Ann Gribbin did not name the new facility where her daughter is being transferred.
“As I sit here in the back of this plane, I am watching Lulu as she is asleep, and her chest is going up and down and in and out,” the mother wrote. “I am smiling at her, overwhelmed with a sense of happiness and gratefulness. She is alive and she is breathing.”
Florida Ranks Highest in Shark Attacks
According to the International Shark Attack File, there have been 1,632 unprovoked shark bites in the U.S. since 1837, with 928 occurring in Florida. The stateβs 1,350-mile coastline, the longest in the contiguous U.S., offers abundant shoreline prey for sharks and attracts year-round tourists to its beaches.
No beach in Florida is entirely free of sharks. The state is home to the “Shark Bite Capital of the World,” Volusia County.
Volusia County, where Daytona Beach is located, has the highest number of unprovoked shark attacks, totaling 351 since 1837. Brevard and Palm Beach counties follow with 158 and 83 attacks, respectively.
Shark Species Most Commonly Linked to Attacks
With over 500 shark species in the ocean, the ten species listed below are most frequently associated with unprovoked attacks. Sharks are often misidentified after attacks, but the three species known to cause severe injuries are bull sharks, great white sharks, and tiger sharks, according to the International Shark Attack File.
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