Bryce Albert didn’t panic, even though he was afraid that he might lose his arm. The 20-year-old from Naples was rushed to the hospital after a shark bit his left arm last Thursday at Juno Beach.
“I felt my arm basically get hit and, like, kicked almost,” Albert said. “I pulled my arm up and I quickly could see all the blood and, like, my muscles bubbling over my skin.”
Albert, a sophomore at Auburn University, said he and three friends were about 25 yards from the shore at about 3:30 in the afternoon when he felt something hit his left arm.
He described the water as about five feet deep and very choppy, so he said he never saw the shark.
He quickly went to the lifeguard station, where they wrapped his arm to stop the bleeding. Then a friend took him to St. Mary Medical Center in West Palm Beach.
“I was in a lot of pain, but luckily I was able to stay calm enough to make it to the hospital. I knew if I wanted to try and preserve my arm, which I did, I’d have to stay calm,” Albert said.
He said doctors told him based on the size of the wound, the shark that bit him was probably a Blacktip about six feet long.
Albert has about a hundred stitches in his arm, but he said he is grateful things were not worse and hopes his story inspires others to realize that life is precious.
According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, waters off the coast of the state saw 16 unprovoked shark attacks last year, the highest in the nation.
Albert said the doctors have told him he will have full use of his left arm.
