Shark attack took Florida girl's arm, leg, but teen now shining in golf

TL;DR

Lulu Gribbin, a Florida teen, survived a shark attack that resulted in the amputation of her left arm and right leg. Now, she is thriving and excelling in golf despite her injuries.

Key points

Lulu Gribbin was attacked by a bull shark at Seacrest Beach.
She lost her left arm and right leg due to the attack.
Lulu nearly died from blood loss during the incident.
She is now thriving in golf despite her injuries.

Mentioned in this story

Lulu GribbinSeacrest BeachAscension Sacred Heart Hospital

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Two years ago, Lulu Gribbin and friends were swimming at Seacrest Beach on Florida’s Panhandle, searching for sand dollars, when a friend screamed the dreaded word.

“Shark!”

A bull shark had attacked the group. When the 15-year-old Gribbin looked down, she could see flesh on her arm. The shark had bitten her twice. Beachgoers helped get her out of the water and tourniquets were applied.

Gribbin was life-flighted to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where her left hand and right leg, just above the knee, were amputated. She almost lost her life – she had lost two-thirds of her blood.

“I made it,” were the first words she said to her parents, Joe and Ann Blair, when she awoke at the hospital. She later said, “One leg and one arm don’t define who I am.”

Gribbin, thanks to a friend she met while recuperating, got into golf after her recovery and this week is playing in the PING USDGA Championship, formerly known as the U.S. Golf Disabled Open, at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie.

Three months after the shark attack, Gribbin was swinging a golf club

Lulu Gribbin hits her ball from the fairway during the PING USDGA Championship at PGA Golf Club on April 28

Gribbin was an all-around athlete growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, water skiing among her favorites. Her family were members at the Country Club at Birmingham, where Lulu occasionally played golf.

Chris Biggins, a PGA Professional at the club, knew Lulu from when she started attending summer golf camps a half-dozen years earlier. Like everyone else in Birmingham, Biggins followed the harrowing news after the shark attack.

“We were just hoping she was going to survive,” Biggins said of Gribbin, who spent 77 days in the hospital. Biggins, who was born with cerebral palsy and played competitive adaptive golf, knew he might have a role in Gribbin’s recovery.