THE nine-year-old girl has recalled the moment her hand was almost torn off in a savage shark attack while snorkeling with her mom.
Leah Lendel underwent a six-hour surgery to repair her hand that was left “hanging by skin” after she was mauled by an eight-foot shark off Boca Grande beach in Florida on June 11.
“Something hard bit me and then tried to tug me away,” she said at a news conference at Tampa General Hospital.
While flanked by her parents and doctors, Leah recalled how she and her mom started screaming when they realized what happened.
“I didn’t see anything. I was just snorkeling,” she said.
“I went up to breathe. And then, something hard bit me and tried to take me away.
“Then I pick up my hand and is all in blood. I start screaming with my mom”.
Nadia, Leah’s mom, told reporters how she thought her daughter had lost a limb, saying “It was really, really bad” and that she didn’t think her daughter “was going to have a hand.”
“It’s some sort of miracle that now she has a hand,” she added.
“There was so much blood in the water right next to me, in an instant I knew it’s a shark attack,” Nadia said, adding that her daughter’s “instincts kicked in”.
Leah ran out of the water where she was picked up by her dad and taken to the road where people rushed to help.
“We [saw] that little girl come out from the water with no hand, it was… like everybody was in shock,” eyewitness Alfonso Tello who was on a lunch break at the beach told NBC-affiliate WBBH.
Shark attack reported at popular US beach as victim rushed to hospital just weeks after 1,600lb beast spotted in state
One horrified beach goer who ran to Leah told CBS-affiliate WINK that her hand “was hanging but this piece…they whole thing was completely hanging out. You can see bones all completely red”.
A frantic 911 call revealed how those nearby wrapped towels around Leah’s hand that was “completely destroyed” and put her arm in a tourniquet to stem the bleeding.
Within four minutes, responders from the Boca Grande Fire Department were on scene and she was flown two hours to Tampa General.
MIRACLE WORKERS
Leah’s doctors told reporters how there was a six-hour window for them to save her hand from the moment she was mauled by the shark.
Statement from Leah Lendel’s family following the shark attack
Nine-year-old Leah experienced a terrifying and life-altering event. Her family has issued the following statement following the suspected bull shark attack in Boca Grande, Florida:
“We want to say Thank You to everyone that is praying for our sweet Leah.
“We are thankful for the quick response of everyone that was on scene, the construction workers, residents that ran out to help and the first responders and to all the Doctors/Nurses that are doing everything to help our girl.
“Yesterday Leah had an extensive surgery on her hand (wrist & fingers).
“The Doctors, were able to get blood flow to her hand and fingers.
“She is showing some movement in two fingers but can’t feel the rest.
“The doctors will be doing another procedure tomorrow to see if there is anything else that needs to be done.
“The fact that Leah has all her fingers attached is already a testimony.
“From witnessing her wrist hanging on by just the skin, to have blood flow in all of her hand and fingers is truly a miracle.
“Please keep praying for our family, our God is a miracle worker.”
Less than an hour after she arrived at the hospital, she was in surgery where they had to stabilize the bone and take blood vessels from her leg to help restore blood flow to her hand.
“I was trying to hold myself together, Leah’s dad Jay said.
“I think I was crying more than she was.”
An x-ray of her hand shows how the skin, muscles, and bones in her hand were severed almost all the way across the middle.
Doctors called the fact it was a shark bite a “curse and a blessing”.
Their sharp teeth mean the cut was clean and not jagged, meaning there was “good tissue to work with and put back together in a timely fashion,” Dr Alfred Hess said.
Leah will still need physical therapy and to have the pins in her hand removed but her parents say they are “just thankful for everybody”.
“I didn’t think it was possible because I was holding her hand in my hand and I didn’t think there was any chance at all of saving it,” he said.
“I’m so thankful to the surgeons for making such a miracle.”
“I’m just very thankful she’s alive,” Jay added.
Leah said could not wait to start “playing with all my siblings” once her wounds healed.
Her family launched a GoFundMe page to help with her recovery which has received over $47,700 at the time of writing.
This week, another shark attack was reported at a popular US beach and a 12-year-old girl was mauled by a 12ft alligator while playing in shallow water with her friends.