Survival Stories: Two Brothers Fight Bullshark | Fight To Survive | FD Survive

The merciless wild, the heartless seas. When nature unleashes her cruelty, could you escape? Could you survive? These are the true stories of outdoorsmen, confronted by death, armed with raw courage and a will to live. They are the ones who beat the odds and return from their own fight to survive. Family fishing trip turns into a bloody savage nightmare. Something grabs me on my right leg and immediately takes me underwater. 500-pound bull shark is clamped on Craig Huddo's leg, and the beast isn't letting go. The look on his face, it was just terror. A trail of blood to the shore leads to an agonizing choice between life or limb. Please don't let them take my leg. When life hangs in the balance, what does it take to survive? June 2005, the annual Huddo family vacation and fishing trip. This year, it's Cape San Blas on the Florida Panhandle. With condos on either side, and there was maybe one restaurant and a gas station and a bait shop. That was it. 16-year-old Craig and his 25-year-old brother Brian are looking forward to spending time together surfcasting off the beach. Brothers grew up fishing, pulling blue gill out of the lakes and rivers near their home in Tennessee. This time, they'd have to try a new challenge. My fishing's always been out of a river or from a boat. And so when I saw the surf fishermen, they would bait. They would go out, stand on the sandbar, and just watch them. So I was like, that's something that we could handle. We would hook up with frozen shrimp on the beach. We would attach it to the pole, and then we would hold the pole above our head. Once we got on the sandbar, it was maybe knee deep. And so we would just stand there and just throw it as far as we could and let it settle. And then usually within a matter of a minute or so, we'd have a fish on. Oh, my gosh. And then we both would come back to the shore, and mom and dad would take pictures of it. We'd release the fish and rebait the hook and then walk back out to the sandbar. Craig and Brian follow the same routine for hours each day of the vacation. On the third day of the trip, Monday, June 27, 2005, the family heads out early. It's an overcast day, and there's hardly anyone on the beach. The brothers also notice that the surf is churning up a lot of sand. The clarity of the water, it was terrible. You could probably see about a foot, and then that would be it. Really had no perception of what was under you or what might touch your leg or anything. But the murky water starts yielding the best catches of the trip so far. Right when we cast, we'd catch something within five seconds. And this went on for 45 minutes, around 930 to 1030. Brian caught a fish that was probably the biggest fish that either of us have caught since we've been there. And so, of course, me being a competitive type, I immediately got frustrated and mad because I thought that I could catch one bigger than him. And so after Brian was the superstar and taking all the pictures and all that stuff, I was trying to force him to go back out because I knew that I could catch one bigger than him. I could tell Craig was pretty fired up because I remember, he's like, come on, let's go. Let's go. The decision to wade back out would change their lives forever. Lurking in the waters of this part of Florida are the most aggressive and deadly sharks in the world, the bull shark. Bull sharks love to cruise in warm, shallow water. As they head back out, Brian is slightly ahead and 10 feet to the right of Craig. They move towards a little gully and start to drop down into it. The water was probably about a couple of inches above my belly button. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it feels like a punch on my left thigh. And the water's murky. Don't know what it is. I remember that he just did this, whoa, what was that? The vacation. Come on, we're on vacation. Craig and Brian Huddo are enjoying a day of fishing in the surf off Cape San Blas, Florida. An imaginable danger lurks. Suddenly, Craig feels something like a punch hitting his left leg. Water's murky. Don't know what it is. And so I immediately jump back. Then, terror strikes. Something grabbed me on my right leg. Immediately, I went straight into shock. I vividly remember that the only thing that I was thinking was, Craig, this is a dream. You have to wake up right now. A 500-pound bull shark is clamped on Brian's leg. And it's pulling him out to sea. When he disappeared, the tail end of the shark rolled up. And at that moment, I just started yelling. I remember yelling shark. I remember yelling out. Brian rushes towards the murderous shark to save his brother. He goes under. And then he pops back up. And he just looks at me. And he just yells, help. I mean, he's just screaming, just screaming. The only thing I saw was a pool of blood. And didn't even see a fin, didn't even see anything. Brian just comes up and takes his right arm and puts it under both my armpits and across my chest. Craig is thrashing at the water. The look on his face, it was just terrible. The shark is not letting go. I literally felt like I was pulling a dump truck. I don't know that the shark was fighting against us. But we're just pulling the weight of the shark, the weight of Craig. You've got the waves going back and forth. It took 12 days to get from that gully to the beach. And now this whole time, the shark is still on my leg. Both brothers operate on pure instinct, right or wrong. I didn't know anything about when you get attacked by a shark, you must gouge the eyes out. Craig only has one thought in his mind. I need to get this shark off my leg. And so I reach my hand down in hopes of trying to open the shark's mouth and releasing it off my leg. But the shark's razor sharp teeth rip into Craig's hands. My left hand is basically shredded. And then my right hand was bit on my index and middle finger. With every heartbeat, the little blood Craig has left is being pumped out through the severed femoral artery in his right leg. All there was in the water was probably about a 3 and 1 half foot span of blood and a trail of bright red blood all the way back. To brother's dad, Roger Hutto rushes out to help his sons. Both grabbed me under my arms. And the shark's still on my leg. Brian reacts with irrational fury. Just turned my body around. And that shark's still there. So I remember I just started punching. It was kind of like punching a bag of Quikrete. It was just really, really hard and sort of abrasive. And made any difference whatsoever. I think it was just through and spun around and took off. Craig is dragged up out of the water as Brian collapses. Brian reflects for a moment about his life-saving actions. Luckily, I didn't have time to think. My rational brain would have said, your wife's seven months pregnant. And she's on the beach. If you're really thinking about this, you're swimming towards something that's bred. I mean, it just eats. That's all it does. Sort of went through a range of emotions there, just from anger to relief that we're on the beach. And then, you know, that spilled over into just bawling. Because who gets attacked by a shark? One has been called. But with a severed femoral artery, Craig will most likely die before the ambulance arrives. He needs a miracle. And he gets one. It's a miracle that there were three nurses on the beach that morning. Just on vacation like we were. And they immediately came over and did exactly what they were trained to do. Craig is extremely short of breath and ghostly white. Somebody call an ambulance. I didn't know at the time that this was symptoms of someone who has severe bleeding. I didn't know that I was that close to dying at that moment. As the nurses work to stop the bleeding, Brian flags down the EMTs. I was in shock. And so I didn't feel any pain from the shark biting me. But the pain that I did feel is when someone's putting pressure on your artery. And I mean, I don't think any type of shot can cover that pain up. My dad saying, we just don't know how bad it is. The blood loss was pretty big. And he was fighting. Now, a medevac helicopter is rushing to the scene. But Craig Huddo is losing the fight. We're going to help you, OK? Stay with me. Has been attacked by a 500-pound bull shark. And he's lost half the blood in his body. His life is slipping away. The nurse says, we're having a hard time keeping him stable. And I think that's really when it set in that we just need to start saying our prayers that he makes it through. When Craig regains consciousness, his hands and leg are heavily bandaged. For some reason, I wake up and I say, mom, please don't let them take my leg. And so when I said that, mom, she didn't know how to answer. So she just basically starts crying and walks out of the room. The Huddos ask the hospital chaplain to break the terrible news to Craig. His leg is gone. But Craig is still not out of the woods. He urgently needs to undergo a series of agonizing operations to stabilize his severed leg and repair his mangled hands. So I'd have surgery. I'd rest the next day. The next day, I'd have another surgery. I'd rest the next day, have another surgery, rest the next day. His family is there around the clock. But still, Craig struggles to keep his spirits up. I was asking, why me? How did I get here? What did I do wrong to deserve this? Brian sees a very broken brother slipping into a dark place emotionally. I was just sulking. And he was saying, he just said, quit being a baby. You've gone through the worst. You're still here. I don't know that I used baby. I think I told him he probably needed to suck it up. I wanted him to just not give up, because he had it within him. Nine days and four surgeries, the hospital has to be evacuated for Hurricane Cindy. Craig is airlifted closer to home, to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. At Vanderbilt, he endures three more surgeries to graft skin from his left thigh onto the bottom of his amputation. Finally, after another 10 days in the hospital, he's sent home to recover. That whole period was hard psychologically for me, just because I never required somebody to unzip my pants to help me use the restroom, and then turn around and pick up a fork to feed me. While he's recuperating, Craig gets a visit from two strangers who would become lifelong friends, John Siciliano and Sarah Reinersten, amputees and competitive athletes. They actually flew out from California, basically, to let me know that just because this happened to you doesn't mean that's the end of your life. You're still going to be able to do whatever you want. Just five months after the shark attack, Craig goes to La Jolla, California, as John and Sarah's guests, to watch the challenged athlete triathlon. It was awesome. It was people that had injuries that put mine to shame, that were doing much more than what I even thought I could do. And so after I saw that, I mean, I made up my mind. I'm like, this is something that I'd want to do. Welcome. How you guys doing? Spectators, La Jolla, good morning. Craig then suffers the painful process of being fitted for an artificial leg. I had to go through at least 12 different sockets, socket fittings, because on your prosthetic, your socket needs to be perfect. His doctor gets the fit right. But it's still what's called a passive prosthesis, an artificial limb your hip has to basically drag around. Craig masters the new leg. Then he gets a life-changing phone call just before high school graduation. It was cutting edge technology, and I thought that it would be cool to be the front runner for this. Craig Huddo is about to make medical history. Since 2007, shark attack victim Craig Huddo has spent hundreds of hours helping the Vanderbilt University prosthesis program. Vanderbilt University's mechanical and electrical engineering program, they were creating a new type of prosthetic leg. And so they were looking for test subjects around the national area that would be interested in helping them. Professor of mechanical engineering Dr. Michael Goldfarb and his team have created a robotic limb they call the Vanderbilt Powered Prosthesis. They need someone to road test it. It's been really exciting working with them because I'm kind of the, I guess I'm kind of the lab rat. The Vanderbilt Powered Prosthesis is constructed of aluminum alloy and weighs only about nine pounds. The leg is battery operated with a power system that is based on the one used in hybrid automobiles. This prosthesis uses advanced transmission mechanisms and electrical motors to move the knee and ankle joints independently with power, the way a real leg moves. The robotic leg mimics human biomechanics and allows amputees to walk without the characteristic leg dragging gait of conventional artificial legs. The prosthesis is embedded with software that programs itself based on the wearer's movements. In other words, the artificial leg is learning from Craig's able body. And so with their leg, I'm able to walk up stairs as well as slopes. I'm just extremely fortunate that I had this opportunity. Craig also pursues his education. And in 2011, he graduates from Middle Tennessee State University. College and was thinking of what I should major in. It was really not even a decision because I realized that nurses had saved my life and I felt like I had to give something back. And so I went through the nursing program at MTSU and got my RN license. I'm currently getting my master's at Vanderbilt University to become an acute care nurse practitioner. And as for that promise he made to himself back on the beach in La Jolla watching the challenged athlete triathlon, Craig goes one better. He and his brother Brian and their middle brother Zachary all trained together to compete as a team in the San Diego Triathlon Challenge. Trained, got his wetsuit, he got in the pool and we got out there and I remember looking at the water thinking, this is going to be tough. It just seemed really challenging. Swimming with one leg, swimming in the ocean for the first time. Once I got in the water and it kind of all hit me like, hello, this water's a little murky. The horn rang and basically it was me trying to swim 1.2 miles. So it went fine. It was an emotional time while he was in that water. And then they let us go down to the beach when he came out. And he comes out and he gets his crutches and I was just so choked up and so proud of him because he had come full circle. Craig Huddo has developed an inspirational outlook on life. It taught me how fragile life is, but it also taught me how resilient we as humans are. Yeah, it has taught me not to take things for granted. I mean, something as simple as walking, that's second nature to people that people don't even think about. But when you're not able to do it and you have to actually think every time you take a step, continuously every time, you kind of learn to appreciate the small things in life. Bad things are going to happen. That's just life. What you make of them, that's completely your decision. And out of something very, very bad, Craig Huddo has made something very good indeed.