We Were All Shark Bait

11/7/14... It was a just before dusk surf sesh at the South Access in Floridana and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I walked home from school and then heard a banging on my door. “Hey Christa, there are waves. Get your suit on and let’s go” I opened the door to find my friend Daniel Hudy, but we all call him Hudy. I grabbed my phone and dialed Christian’s number to come join. I also called my buddy Hunter, aka Hunna Hunna, but he was too sick to go. I don’t even know where Maury was. Anyways, the crew suited up, waxed our boards, and started walking to Floridana South Access. Little did we know, we were all shark bait!

Christian was trying out his board he got from SB3 Boards a while back; it was his first time using it. The waves weren’t that good, but we thought we would go out anyways in an expression session. It seemed like a serene, normal day of surfing. We were all laughing and I was being washed down the beach because the drift. Once we were all out, we each caught a shore pound wave. Then Christian told us to paddle out to the outside. After about 5 minutes it happened!

We were passing the mid-break when I heard Christian yell, “Sh*t! I just got bit by a shark, go in” Hudy and I couldn’t really hear what he was saying because the roar of the surf, even though we were right next to him. Christian lifted up his hand and I saw the blood pouring out, and the red trail behind his board in the water. A wave pushed Christian in, but the shark went after him again for seconds. Christian’s hand was pretty messed up. The bite tore the forearm of his wetsuit along with his hand. Hudy caught a wave in and on the beach grabbed Christian’s board for him. I paddled in as fast as I could, my heart was racing. My best friend’s hand just got chomped by a shark and now his hand looked like sushi.

Once I was of the water I ran up to Christian and saw he was losing a lot of blood fast. I told Hudy to take care of him, knowing Christian himself also knew what to do. I took off for my house and ran as fast as I could. I am not supposed to run barefoot according to my doctor because of my ankle injury, but I had no choice and ran like the wind. Once at my house, I ran inside to call 911. It took them 2 very long minutes to answer! I grabbed a towel and started my sprint back to the beach. I met them at the end of our beach access trail. I saw that Hudy had helped Christian by creating a tourniquet, tying his surf leash tightly around his arm and using his Six Starz wrist band to stop the blood. We walked him back to my house where the ambulance was to meet us Than God. We used a towel to apply pressure to his hand, and boy did it look like it hurt.

When the EMTs came they told me that we did a great job of taking care of him, and that he was going to be okay. I said, “I only knew what to do because of how many times I’ve seen Soul Surfer.” They wanted to cut off Christian’s wetsuit, but he refused. They just wrapped up his wound to slow down his blood loss and by that time his Mother and Grandma (we call her G-Ma) got there. They decided to take him to the ER themselves, and we whisked away to the hospital.

Racing at super speeds to get there in time, when we arrived they gave Christian a wheelchair and put him in the emergency room. Doctors and nurses all came in and checked out his hand, they all described how gnarly and lucky he was. They pointed out how the bite barely missed his muscles, tendons, and arteries. They immediately started to stab him with needles to numb his hand and forearm, and started cleaning out his wound so they could figure out what to do first; he was cut everywhere it seemed. After taking at least 12 needles directly into his wounds, he was finally fully numbed. They started pulling at his skin and spraying water and other disinfectants on the bite to make sure it didn’t get infected from the shark or water. His G-Ma and Mom got so pale and sick feeling they had to step out, but I made sure to suck it up and stay in the room with my bro. I remembered from when I was in the ER, when I broke
my ankle and I was by myself… it was horrible, I didn’t want him to feel that way so I stayed with him through it all.

When they started to stitch him up, his numbing had gone almost completely away. I hate being stitched, but I made sure to stay right by his side. I could hear him grunting from the pain, but never once did I see him shed a tear. What a champ, I was so proud. After 32 stitches were done, they discharged him. On the way home we stopped by Wendy’s and we chowed since he couldn’t eat the entire time after it happened. He ate a whopping 20 chicken nuggets, fries, and a big drink.

I’ve been checking up on him everyday since and making sure his hand heals properly. A few days later we celebrated his 16th birthday, with carrot cake, presents, and another cleaning of his hand. I know Christian will overcome this and be back ripping in no time! You got this dude, the next two months of healing will be nothing and soon you will be back in the line up with the rest of the crew.

Thanks...CJSporty...

We Were All Shark Bait
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