When Addison Bethea felt a sudden tug on her leg, she initially thought her brother, Rhett, was playing a prank on her. They were snorkeling off the coast of Florida, searching for scallops with a few of Rhett’s friends on a hot Saturday afternoon. While the shallow waters were familiar to the Betheas, as they were born and raised in the state, it was a novel experience for one of Rhett’s friends. Addison recalls that they were making jokes about sharks to scare him.
After about 20 minutes of swimming, Addison felt something strong pulling at her right leg, dragging her beneath the surface. Throughout the afternoon, she and her brother had been passing the scallop bag back and forth, playfully jostling each other as they swam near Rhett’s new boat. But when Addison resurfaced, she realized that Rhett was in front of her. That’s when she noticed the shark “out of nowhere” at her side, biting her right calf. Addison screamed for her brother, as it was the only thing she could do. Just as Rhett turned to look, the shark latched onto Addison’s right thigh, pulling her under.
Rhett was momentarily perplexed, wondering where Addison had gone. “And then I came back up, and that’s when I saw everything happening all at once: the shark’s tail thrashing, the blood. It was a lot,” she says.
Now 18 years old, Addison, who was 17 at the time of the attack, appears as a laid-back, beach-loving teenager with a tan and blond hair, wearing a thick band of friendship bracelets on her wrist. Just a year ago, she was fighting for her life, not far from where she is now.
During the attack, Addison admits she didn’t actually see the shark. Instead, she felt everything. She remembers the sandpaper-like texture of the shark’s skin, which she had previously felt during an educational encounter at an aquarium. She also recalls the horrifying suggestion of the shark’s size. “My whole arm couldn’t even wrap around its body.”
Rhett later estimated that the shark was at least 10 feet (3 meters) long, most likely a bull or tiger shark, both of which are known threats to humans and common in Florida.
Despite the shark’s “razor-sharp teeth” sinking into her thigh, Addison felt no pain. Instead, she felt confused, as if the attack was happening in slow motion or in a dream. She belted out a scream as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear and she wouldn’t simply die in the water.
Rhett swam over and took Addison in his arms, even though she was still being attacked. “That’s when I started hitting the shark,” says Addison. Having grown up watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, she remembered the advice to punch a shark on the nose in the event of an attack.
As Rhett tried to get her back to the boat, Addison fought back, reaching into the shark’s gills and poking at its eyes. She vividly remembers the shark’s eyeball, which was the size of a baseball and very gooey. She found it gross even in that moment. She also says that she tried to pry the shark off with her fingers, losing parts of her finger in the process.
The shark eventually let go, but only to come back again. Addison rejects the claim that sharks only bite people accidentally because they don’t like the taste. “You hear that your whole life,” she says, rolling her eyes, “then you get attacked by one.”
The attack lasted about 20 seconds, although Addison insists it felt much longer. Throughout the attack, Rhett’s friends were in the shallow water just a few feet away, not understanding what was happening.
Addison’s screams caught the attention of others at Keaton Beach. A man in a high-speed boat came to help. Rhett pulled her onto the boat, and the man attempted to tie a tourniquet around Addison’s leg. From her knee to her hip, Addison says her entire thigh was gone.
Rhett, who is a firefighter, sees traumatic incidents frequently, but even he was shocked by the sight of Addison’s leg. The boat sped towards the shore, with Addison in the footwell, drifting in and out of consciousness. Rhett urgently called for a rescue helicopter over the boat’s radio.
Addison was agitated, shifting positions, and pleading for cold water. “Apparently I was swearing at Rhett,” she admits, a bit ashamed. “I guess I was in shock. I don’t remember doing that. I’ve never done that ever.” However, she does recall praying. She prayed to God that she would be okay during the attack and prayed again while in the boat, asking for strength to survive or to help everyone else if she didn’t make it. Prayer gave her some comfort.
Eventually, the boat arrived at the emergency dock in Keaton Beach. Addison was loaded into an ambulance and then transferred to a rescue helicopter after a short drive. The rescue crew was amazed that she could still speak. The flight medic asked if she was in pain, and she answered yes. That’s the last thing she remembers.
Thanks to favorable winds, the helicopter reached Tallahassee hospital in just 15 minutes. Addison arrived at the ER just in time to meet a surgeon who had the expertise to save her leg. By establishing blood flow and stabilizing the kneecap, they were able to prevent immediate amputation from the hip, a scenario that would have likely left her in a wheelchair for life. Addison believes it was one of the lucky breaks that day, which she considers God’s work.
However, the trauma was significant. Before surgery, Addison had lost a considerable amount of blood, and it was uncertain if she would stabilize. She says she didn’t realize the severity of her situation at first, acknowledging that she could have died.
When Addison woke up in the intensive care unit after surgery, her mother, Michelle, was by her side. She tried to ask about her father, Shane, but couldn’t speak due to being intubated. She found the experience to be the worst thing ever. Shane was already on his way to the hospital, having been alerted by Rhett’s friends.
Still disoriented, Addison mistakenly believed that the hospital was the one that had a Wendy’s burger concession on the ground floor. She asked for a frozen Frosty dessert. “Everyone finds it funny that I woke up wanting Wendy’s Frosty,” she chuckles, “but we don’t have that where I live.”
Addison spent three days in the intensive care unit. She says she doesn’t remember all of her surgeries, but she does recall that her right leg was significantly smaller than her left one.
At first, Addison resisted when her doctors told her that her right foot and lower leg needed to be amputated. She was in denial and had little knowledge about amputations, just a strong desire to avoid it. However, she had already lost feeling in her foot, and saving it would have required extensive skin grafts with an uncertain outcome. Addison felt she had no choice. Having a functional leg in the long run was a much better option.
After a week in the hospital, Addison’s leg was amputated above the knee. She began rehabilitation the following day. Despite significant pain, she managed to travel a distance of 10 feet using a walker.
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