Teenager who should’ve died in brutal shark attack believes she was ‘saved by three angels’

A teenager who lost two limbs in a brutal bull shark attack has opened up about the “three angels” who snatched her back from the brink of death. Her story has since gone viral.

Lulu Gribbin, from Alabama, was just 15 when she was wading in waist-deep water at Rosemary Beach, Florida, in June 2024. In an instant, a bull shark latched onto her, tearing off her left hand and a portion of her right leg.

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The scene was nothing short of a bloodbath. Experts say Lulu lost roughly two-thirds of her entire blood supply, turning the surrounding water into a pool of red the size of a swimming pool.

As Lulu’s mother, Ann Blair, told the Daily Mail: “Lulu’s femoral artery [the main artery in the thigh] was severed in half. Typically when that happens you bleed out in 30 seconds. Medically, she shouldn’t be here. But she is.”

Despite the odds being stacked against her, Lulu’s survival is being called a medical miracle. She credits her life to three specific bystanders who happened to be on the beach with their families when the screaming started.

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A bystander named Stephen Beene saw the shark attached to Lulu’s leg and heroically punched the predator until it let go. Delanie Quinnelly, a maternity nurse, took charge of the chaotic scene, shouting for onlookers to hand over T-shirts and towels to fashion makeshift tourniquets.

Radiologist Mohammad Ali used his body weight to compress Lulu’s severed femoral artery, while pediatrician Ryan Forbess monitored her vitals, ready to perform CPR if her heart stopped.

Lulu, who blacked out while being carried to the sand, woke up to the sight of these strangers fighting to keep her heart beating. “I woke up to see strangers applying tourniquets to my limbs and holding my hand,” she recalled.

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While Lulu survived, her life was changed forever. She underwent multiple surgeries, including the amputation of her right leg. She spent over two months at a specialist recovery center, dealing with the excruciating “phantom pain” that affects 80% of amputees, describing the sensation of her missing leg feeling like it was “on fire”.

Defying every expectation, Lulu was discharged from rehab just 77 days after the attack. In August 2024, she shocked the world by walking out of the hospital on her new prosthetic leg.

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