How A 13-Year-Old Girl Fought Off Jaws
A tween girl detailed how she fought off a bull shark and won after being repeatedly bitten. 13-year-old Ella Reed was hanging out in the water with friend at a Florida beach close to her home on North Hutchinson Island when she was randomly attacked by a shark on Thursday.
The first bite came as an unexpected chomp to her side. “The shark itself was so powerful. That was what I felt the most because it was hitting my stomach really hard,” she told Local 10.
Ella protected herself by punching the shark, which only briefly deterred the creature before it swam back for more.
“It wouldn’t leave me alone, so I had to use my arm and use my hand too, so it got my arm and my finger,” she detailed.
The shark bit her in the abdomen, arm, finger, and at the top of her knee, before she was able to get away.
A Mother’s Nightmare
The friend she was with swiftly transported Ella back home in a golf cart. When she arrived, her mother, Devin Reed, told WPTV that she “seriously thought it was a prank,” until she saw all of the gore.
“It was insane because she was totally covered in blood pretty much from head to toe,” Devin remarked.
But she was astounded by her daughter’s composure during the incident. “There was blood everywhere and she was more of a trooper than anyone else.”
“We were all just shocked that it even happened,” Devin explained. “She was so calm even when we got in the hospital. She was telling all the nurses, ‘You can take pictures.’ She was like a pro.”
Trauma Response
Ella said that the trauma of the incident dulled her body’s response to the shark bites.
“I was kinda in shock about everything that happened, so I wasn’t really in pain because the adrenaline was through the roof.”
She thinks that the predator who attacked her was a 5-6 foot bull shark, but said the incident wouldn’t keep her out of the ocean she has grown up next to.
Ella’s mother said that attack “doesn’t feel real” to her yet. “Never thought in a million years, not my kids,” she commented.
“They swim, go surfing. They know how to stay away from bait balls and stuff like that. The whole thing is surreal. It sounds like a movie.”
