A FULL-TIME firefighter in Taylor County, Florida, Rhett Willingham says he’s all the time been shut along with his sister, Addison Bethea. Whereas rising up within the Panhandle, they’ve spent numerous days fishing, looking, and exploring collectively. The 2 siblings additionally attempt to make time to gather scallops each summer season, and Willingham says that ever because the season opened on July 1, Addison had been bugging him about getting out…
My youthful sister Addison and I prefer to go scallop looking each summer season, so we picked a day in early July and left from Keaton Seashore in my boat. The scalloping was nice that day. The 2 of us had been swimming collectively and sharing a bag, and after just a few hours of selecting scallops off the underside, it was already half full.
We had been swimming again to my boat when all of the sudden I heard a yelp. I stood up within the shallows and circled, however I couldn’t see Addison. I assumed, She have to be underwater grabbing one other scallop.
I spun round once more, and this time I noticed her—with a giant shark biting her leg! It should have been 8 or 9 ft lengthy. She was screaming and punching its nostril, desperately making an attempt to get it to let go of her. And there was blood in every single place! It seemed prefer it was boiling up from beneath her.
I swam straight to her and began punching, kneeing, and kicking the shark. Eventually, it let go.
However at the same time as I grabbed her and swam her again towards my boat, the shark stayed with us. It was prefer it refused to surrender! We had been nonetheless within the water when a stranger pulled alongside us in his personal vessel. He had seen what occurred, and he helped me get her aboard.
The very first thing I did was seize his telephone to name 911. As a firefighter within the county, I do know our protocol. I additionally knew that I needed to cease the bleeding as a result of Addison’s leg was in unhealthy form. I grabbed a thick rope to make a tourniquet. I wrapped it round her thigh, stepping on her slashed femur whereas I pulled the rope as tight as I might.
A sheriff’s deputy was ready for us again on the dock. After an EMT put a recent tourniquet on Addison’s leg, a helicopter airlifted her to a trauma heart in Tallahassee. The docs had been unable to save lots of her proper leg after a number of surgical procedures, they usually needed to amputate it above the knee. However she’s recovering and has began to stroll once more. That’s the vital factor.
You’ll be able to learn the total story about Addison’s rescue right here. We publish true adventures. Ship yours to THTM@outdoorlife.com.
This story initially ran within the Migrations Concern of Outside Life. Learn extra OL+ tales.
