Last June, Addison Bethea was enjoying her last summer before her senior year of high school, when scalloping in shallow waters off the coast of Florida with her brother, she was bitten by a shark that took her leg.
One year later, the resilient 18-year-old walked the homecoming field at graduation with her prosthetic leg, and later she returned to the same spot she was attacked and went for a swim.
Capping off a senior year marked by trauma and several successes, the new graduate shared some unexpected and exciting news with her followers!
Keep reading to learn more about this inspirational young lady!
In late June 2022, Addison Bethea and her half-brother Rhett Willingham anchored their little boat near a large grassy sandbank off the coast of Keaton Beach in northern Florida.
The siblings were scalloping in the murky waters, about 6 feet deep, when Addison felt something tug her leg.
Recounting that moment in the BBC documentary Why Sharks Attack, the young woman said she “vividly” remembers the details.
“When it latched on and [pulled] me under with my calf, I remember that,” Addison said, adding that she felt no pain until she tried to pry its massive jaws off her leg. “I thought it was Rhett, as it pulled me under because I didn’t feel any pain or anything. But then it started kind of shaking me and that’s when I knew it was something else. It started biting into my right thigh and I was gouging its eye to get it off me and then it started swimming away with me still in its mouth.”
Addison–who learned from her passion of sharks to punch it in the nose or poke its eyes–wasn’t going to let the almost 9-foot shark win the battle without a fight..CONTINUE READING