Alabama teen on her first mother-daughter beach trip loses her hand and leg in rare double shark attack in Florida
The teenage victims of a shark attack in the Florida Panhandle have been identified as Lulu Gribbin, who lost a hand and a leg, and McCray Faust, who sustained injuries to her foot.
Ann Blair Gribbin, Lulu's mother, shared the harrowing experience of their first mother-daughter beach trip, which quickly turned to horror. On Friday, the Gribbin family, along with friends, visited Seacrest Beach. After returning from lunch, Ann Blair discovered a crowd gathered at the ocean's edge, which had been evacuated by Walton County authorities and lifeguards.
Lulu's twin sister, Ellie, informed her mother of the attack. “I saw her wounds on her leg and started to scream. She was lifeless, her eyes closed, mouth white and pale. The wound on her leg, or what was left of it, was something out of a movie,” Ann Blair recounted.
The brutal attack occurred around 3 p.m., according to South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford, who stated that both girls required tourniquets for their injuries. Ann Blair managed to reach her daughter, who was conscious and clutching her hand. Emergency responders quickly loaded Lulu onto a helicopter, airlifting her to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
“We prayed the entire way,” Ann Blair wrote. Upon arrival, Lulu was already in surgery. The surgeons informed Ann Blair that the shark had bitten off Lulu's left hand and that they had to amputate her right leg halfway from her knee to her hip. Lulu had lost two-thirds of her blood, a life-threatening amount.
Despite the trauma, Lulu was conscious on Saturday and her first words were, “I made it.” She recounted the attack, confirming that she and McCray were swimming on a sandbar at Seacrest Beach when the shark struck. After biting her hand and leg, the shark bit McCray's foot. A man and a younger boy helped pull Lulu to shore, where two doctors and a nurse applied tourniquets to her wounds.
Ann Blair wrote, “At this point, we will have multiple surgeries in the days to come and our lives will be forever changed. Lulu is strong, beautiful, brave, and so many more things I can’t count.”
On the same day, just four miles away, a 45-year-old Virginia woman, Elisabeth Foley, was also bitten by a shark around 1:15 p.m. She suffered significant injuries to her abdominal and pelvic region, leading to the amputation of the lower part of one arm. Foley was airlifted to HCA Florida Fort Walton-Destin Hospital and is now in stable condition.
