Woman bravely fights off shark after it takes 'vice grip' on her foot: 'I won'
A brave woman is being praised for fighting off a shark with her fists after it latched onto her foot and dragged her underwater.
Heather West, 35, from Texas was swimming with friends in the stunning waters of Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida, US, when she felt something "snatch" her foot as she was heading back towards the shore.
Ms West detailed the terrifying incident earlier this year on TikTok in a series of clips that have now accumulated millions of views.
The avid adventurer said she and three men were swimming parallel to the shoreline about six meters from the beach when she first felt the shark latch, but her brain "couldn't comprehend" what was going on.
"I thought one of the guys had grabbed my foot trying to scare me, knowing damn well nobody was still in the water," she recalled on TikTok.
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While she didn't feel pain until some 30 minutes after being pulled from the water, Ms West said it "felt like my ankle was in a vice grip".
After a few moments of confusion, reality kicked in when the shark - later identified as a lemon shark - "ripped me underneath the water".
Ms West fights back: 'I won'
As panic set in, Ms West knew she had to act fast if it meant getting out of the water alive. Her fear quickly turned to anger, she said.
"I rolled over on my back as I'm being pulled through the water and I was trying to kick him with my other foot," she vividly detailed.
But because of the flippers she was wearing - which she credits to saving her foot - she wasn't able to get the propulsion she needed to release the predator's grip. So she unleashed a few punches instead.
"I sat up and leaned forward and just started punching with both my fists until he lets go," she recalled.
"I turn around and start screaming for somebody to come get me and the guys come out and drag me onto the beach."
Convinced she'd lost her foot, Ms West was relieved to learn it was still there after being dragged to safety. However, the attack left her with 18 stitches, ligament damage and ongoing visits with a plastic surgeon to regain full movement in her foot.
"I knew it was a battle for the foot – and one of us was gonna win, and one of us was gonna lose,” the survivor recalled on TikTok. "And, honestly, I didn’t expect that I was gonna be the winner of this.
"I was really happy afterwards. I just felt so grateful to be alive."
Four weeks on from the attack, Ms West posted an update on Instagram showing off her foot wound which was "healing up pretty good."
But she was still in "as much pain" as when the attack first happened and she still hadn't regained "any function" in her foot.
"The tendons in the top of my foot are torn and I’m sure there’s ligament damage in the ankle from all the jerking," she wrote in a post on Instagram. "In 2 weeks we’ll be able to determine for sure if I need surgery."
Shark identified: 'Out of character'
Following the incident, Ms West learned that her attacker was a 6-foot lemon shark that had been seen attacking birds in the area just days prior.
The news came as a shock to many as lemon sharks aren't known to be dangerous to humans. Ms West is the 11th victim of a lemon shark attack according to the Florida Museum.
Many TikTok users noted it was "crazy" to think a lemon shark had attacked her as it's extremely "out of character" for them.
"This is crazy to me! I was always told lemon sharks were friendly," one person questioned.
Thousands praised Ms West for her quick thinking with many labelling her a "legend" and an "icon" for beating the shark and potentially saving her own life.
"That’s actually so badass," one person wrote on Instagram.
"This is pretty legendary," said another.
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