Teen Recalls Seeing ‘Flesh’ on Her Arm After Shark Attack. 2 Months Later, She Went Home with a Prosthetic Hand and Leg

Before her attack, Lulu Gribbin was just a normal teenage girl.

She loved spending time with her twin sister, Ellie, and could often be found in the gym practicing volleyball or traveling for games. She enjoyed weekends with her mom, helped out at her church in Alabama, and had a close group of friends who liked the typical fun teenage girls enjoy.

She was also competitive, her mother told PEOPLE exclusively, like her sister.

“Lulu was a typical teenage, hormonal girl. It’s highs and lows,” says Ann Blair Gribbin. “Mostly highs, but you know, just a normal teenager.”

It was during one normal mother-daughter beach trip that everything changed.

A mother-daughter beach trip changed everything

While on a trip to Florida’s Seacrest Beach on the Gulf Coast, Lulu and her friends were swimming and diving for sand dollars when something happened that changed her life instantly.

“When we were headed in, we were just riding the waves and kind of body surfing,” Lulu, now 16, recalls.

Suddenly, a friend turned and screamed, “Shark!”

The girls began swimming as fast as they could. “We were just all in shock,” Lulu says.

Even in the chaos, Lulu remembered something she had learned about sharks: they often go for frantic movements. So she tried to calm down. “I lifted my arm out of the water and I could see the flesh on my arm,” she says. “That’s when I realized… this was real.”

“I tried to call for help and no words came out,” she says. “I just remember waking up on the shore with strangers around me, saving my life.”

Her mother, Ann Blair, had just finished lunch when she noticed crowds gathering.

“My friend Ellen tried to call her two girls that were there with her,” Ann Blair explains. “They weren’t picking up. Something was wrong.”

When she saw Lulu, she says, “She was white as a ghost.” Ellie told her, “Mom, it’s Lulu,” and Ann Blair remembers screaming in shock.

The immediate aftermath

Reports from ABC News and WBRC shared that the two girls were injured and taken to separate hospitals. One girl had serious injuries that required tourniquets, while the other had flesh wounds to her foot.

Earlier that day, a 45-year-old woman had also been bitten by a shark at Watersound Beach, injuring her midsection, pelvis, and left arm, according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.

“I didn’t know that her hand was bitten off because they had covered it up,” Ann Blair says. “I could see her leg… it was basically gone. I’ll never unsee it.”

Paramedics worked quickly while Ellie kept Lulu’s eyes open and her mom held her hand. The ambulance ride brought some relief with air conditioning, but the drive to the hospital was tense, with the family praying the whole way.

Doctors eventually had to amputate Lulu’s leg. She was later moved to OrthoCarolina’s Reconstructive Center for Lost Limbs in Charlotte, N.C., where she spent 77 days having surgeries and recovering.

Rehab challenges

In rehab, Lulu had to relearn basic tasks like dressing, brushing her teeth, and using the bathroom.

“There were patients in worse conditions who didn’t even have the option to do what I was doing,” Lulu says. “I was just grateful I had the option.”

Her mother agrees: “You felt grateful that Lulu had her mind and her personality. She just doesn’t have an arm and a leg.”

Ann Blair stayed in Charlotte with Lulu for three months, while her father stayed home with the other children. “She never complained,” Ann Blair says. “The way she has handled it has been amazing.”

Learning to walk and run again

One of Lulu’s biggest challenges was trusting her prosthetics. “It’s a piece of metal,” she says, “so I had mental blocks. But I forced myself to do it.”

Because she got prosthetics earlier than most patients, she could begin walking sooner. “She walked out of the hospital,” her mother says, “which is extremely rare.”

Running was another goal. Lulu laughs as she remembers falling the first time she tried to run on her prosthetic blade. At physical therapy, she now uses a harness for safety.

Returning home

When Lulu returned home to Alabama, the community showed massive support. “The next day, they had a parade with 3,000 people in the streets,” she recalls. Purple shirts and bows were everywhere, since purple is her favorite color.

Lulu received “buckets and buckets” of care packages and letters from supporters nationwide. She moved to the guest bedroom to make it easier to get around while learning to navigate stairs on her new leg.

She missed milestones like her first day of high school with her twin but kept up with school using an iPad. Her siblings treated her normally, and the family focused on the fact she was alive and herself.

Returning to sports

Before the attack, Lulu played golf and waterskied. Now, she can do both again. She has a special golf hand and 3D-printed prosthetics for waterskiing. She can also drive using a knob and left-foot accelerator.

“My dad jokes about taking away my gas money,” she laughs.

Helping others

Lulu and her family created the Lulu Strong Foundation to help other amputees. The foundation funds research and technology for prosthetics and innovation, including virtual reality tools to reduce phantom limb pain. Their first goal is raising $500,000 for virtual reality prosthetic technology.

She also helped pass a shark attack alert system in Alabama, called Lulu’s Law, which is awaiting approval in the House.

Returning to the ocean

Lulu remembers her first time back in the ocean. “It was one of the best feelings ever. A sense of peace and calm,” she says. She returned to the exact spot of her attack with friends and her twin, reenacting the moment in the sand. “It was kind of like peace of mind,” she explains.

Lulu wants to share her story so others understand, “It’s a real thing that happens to real people. People should know about it.”