During a family holiday, Lulu Gribbin was attacked by a shark in shallow waters off the coast of Seacrest Beach in South Walton, Florida, in scenes akin to a horror movie

Lulu Gribbin lost her arm and part of her leg in the horror(Image: CaringBridge)

A teenager lost her hand and leg in as gruesome shark attack.

Lulu Gribbin was mauled by the bull shark in shallow waters, and suffered extraordinary pain as the creature tore off her left hand, and then part of her right leg. Recalling the moment, Lulu, then 15, said today: “There was no hand there. It was just flesh and bone sticking out.”

But, though she was rushed to hospital, Lulu survived the ordeal and has shown huge physical and mental strength since then. Having adapted to a new life with prosthetic limbs, Lulu, now 17, this week returned to the spot – Seacrest Beach in Florida – where her life had changed irrevocably.

Lulu described her return to the beach as “freeing… very emotional and, in a way, healing” in an interview this week. It is one of her first media chats in the 11 months since the ordeal.

Lulu was airlifted to hospital after the horror(Image: @swfdinfo)

Yet doctors are said to be stunned Lulu survived her injuries in the first place. She lost two thirds of her blood in the sea. The teenager’s mum, Ann Blair, said: “Lulu’s femoral artery [the main artery in the thigh] was severed in half. Typically when that happens you bleed out in 30 seconds. Medically, she shouldn’t be here. But she is.”

Recalling the fateful day, Lulu, of Birmingham, Alabama, told the Daily Mail she had heard friends scream they had seen the shark. Swimmers desperately scrambled to clear the water but Lulu was moments too slow. She said: “My brain knew what was happening, but my body just couldn’t respond. Once I realised it had caught me, I couldn’t call for help, speak, swim, do anything.”

Then, a bystander, Stephen Beene, saw her distress and rushed to her. Lulu added: “He saved me. The shark was attached to my leg at the time and he punched it to release me.

“Another man came. I blacked out as he was carrying me to the shore. I woke up to see strangers applying tourniquets to my limbs and holding my hand.”

Lulu’s escape was lucky as, just last month, it was reported a woman was killed and a man seriously injured in a shark attack on the east coast of Australia. The woman in her 20s was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lulu, though, did lose consciousness after her encounter. After 77 days in rehab, Lulu, a huge Taylor Swift fan, was discharged and walked out on her prosthetic leg. Today, Lulu’s hopes for the future include entering the Paralympics. For more information and to donate to the Lulu Strong Foundation, visit this link.