Surfer escapes death in great white shark attack
- 7 years ago
SAN DIEGO — Surfer Leeanne Ericson is lucky to be alive, after finding herself trapped between the jaws of the ocean's most feared predator.
Now, she's telling her gruesome shark tale.
Ericson and her boyfriend Dusty Phillips were surfing by San Onofre Beach near San Diego on April 29, when she was suddenly bumped off her surfboard. She initially thought she'd been hit by a seal, but a couple of ferocious bites to her behind and right leg let her know she was under attack by a shark with a thirst for blood.
Within seconds, Ericson was pulled underwater. Phillips quickly dove in after her, but his girlfriend was at the mercy of a deadly great white shark. As the creature dragged her down, Ericson furiously fought back, punching and digging her fingers into its eye. She says it felt like "digging out a cup of Jell-O."
The shark let Ericson go, and while she thinks her counter attack may have been enough, Phillips says the shark might have released its grip because it had scored enough flesh. The bite on Ericson's right buttocks went all the way down to her bone, and cost her so much blood she was immediately put under a medically-induced coma by doctors, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Nine weeks and eight operations later, Ericson is learning how to walk again. In an interview with CBS News, she said her antibiotics alone have cost roughly $36,000, but a GoFundMe page to help pay her medical bills has racked up more than $124,000.
Ericson has since found the courage to return to the ocean, but getting back on that surfboard will require many more months of psychological healing.
Now, she's telling her gruesome shark tale.
Ericson and her boyfriend Dusty Phillips were surfing by San Onofre Beach near San Diego on April 29, when she was suddenly bumped off her surfboard. She initially thought she'd been hit by a seal, but a couple of ferocious bites to her behind and right leg let her know she was under attack by a shark with a thirst for blood.
Within seconds, Ericson was pulled underwater. Phillips quickly dove in after her, but his girlfriend was at the mercy of a deadly great white shark. As the creature dragged her down, Ericson furiously fought back, punching and digging her fingers into its eye. She says it felt like "digging out a cup of Jell-O."
The shark let Ericson go, and while she thinks her counter attack may have been enough, Phillips says the shark might have released its grip because it had scored enough flesh. The bite on Ericson's right buttocks went all the way down to her bone, and cost her so much blood she was immediately put under a medically-induced coma by doctors, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Nine weeks and eight operations later, Ericson is learning how to walk again. In an interview with CBS News, she said her antibiotics alone have cost roughly $36,000, but a GoFundMe page to help pay her medical bills has racked up more than $124,000.
Ericson has since found the courage to return to the ocean, but getting back on that surfboard will require many more months of psychological healing.