How is Addison Bethea now? Teen recalls horrific shark encounter that led to leg amputation
TAYLOR COUNTY, FLORIDA: Addison Bethea, the 18-year-old Florida native who lost her right leg in a nine-foot-long shark attack last year is expecting her first child in December.
She has graduated high school and says she remembers “feeling everything” when the shark bit her twice and dragged her under the water, according to The Guardian.
When and where was Addison Bethea attacked by the Shark?
The shark attack happened in July 2022, at Keaton Beach in Taylor County, Florida. Addison was 17 years old at the time.
She was out hunting for scallops with her brother Rhett Willingham and two of his friends in the shallow waters near Grassy Island.
A shark, estimated to be about 9 feet long, bit her right leg twice and dragged her under the water. The attack lasted 20 seconds.
“When you try to scream and nothing comes out — that’s what I felt like,” Bethea, now 18, told the Guardian. “So I belted as loud as I could, so someone heard, and I didn’t just die in the water.”
“I remember feeling everything,” she said. She did not see the shark under the water, but she recalls its rough skin, “razor-sharp teeth” and “gooey” eyes, which she poked at to get away.
“Its eyeball was the size of a baseball: very big, very gooey – very gross,” she said. “I remember even in the moment being, like, eww.” She recalls estimating the shark’s size, saying her “whole arm couldn’t even wrap around its body,”
She was rescued by a stranger’s boat and her brother applied a tourniquet to her leg to stop the bleeding.
What happened after the Shark attack?
She was airlifted to a hospital in Tallahassee, where she underwent emergency surgery. Her leg was severely damaged by the shark’s bite.
She had nerve damage, tissue loss, and muscle damage. “I didn’t know how severe everything was for me: I could have died,” she said.
Addison remained in intensive care for three days. “I don’t even remember all my surgeries, but I do remember my right leg being significantly smaller than my left one.”
Addison said she was in denial when doctors told her her right and leg needed to be amputated. "I didn’t know anything about amputations. I just knew that I didn’t want it.”
After realizing that she has lost feelings in the leg, Addison was left with no choice. “I didn’t really have a choice,” Addison says.
“Having a leg where I could actually be functional was a lot better in the long run.” After a week her leg was amputated.
How did Addison recover from the attack?
She recovered remarkably well from the attack. She returned to school in September 2022 with a prosthetic leg which was fitted in early August a month after the attack.
She was self-conscious initially and used a wheelchair but later gained confidence. “All the prayers that everyone sent – I got to recover so much quicker.”
As of now she is gaining on her previous “speed walk” pace and is even back at the gym doing her usual weightlifting routine. "Now I can do whatever; I can hop around my house, I don’t have to have anything to help me … It’s easy now.”
What did the shark attack change in Addison Bethea?
Losing her leg might have been the most traumatic experience from the life-altering attack attack but her love towards nature remains intact. The attack hasn't stopped her from doing anything in any way.
“Only cost me a leg,” she joked on Facebook after graduating in May. She even recently returned with Rhett and her boyfriend Ashton to the spot where she was attacked.
She is not going to give up swimming, scalloping and surfing as it's a big part of her life. “I’m not going to avoid that when it’s something I like to do.”
She said she did not blame the shark for following its instincts and that she still loves the ocean. "What you have to realize is that once you get into the ocean, that is not your territory.
"The shark was following its instincts. Yeah, it sucks that it picked me to bite – but it happens."