A Florida teen speaks as he recovers after suffering a shark bite while surfing.
A Florida teen surfer was enjoying the waves when he was attacked by a shark, but he says he's not letting the ordeal stop him from pursuing his dreams.
Teddy Wittemann, 16, said it was "out of nowhere" when what he believes was a 6-foot bull shark "caught the inside of my arm."
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Teddy was catching waves stirred up by recent storms when he fell off his board, and the shark took a bite.
"I looked over because I felt this pressure on my arm, and I saw it along the side of my body. I knew exactly what was going on," he said.
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Teddy paddled back to his friends on the shore, who helped him stop the bleeding by tying a shirt around his shoulder.
"They kind of held my arm up like this and got me off the beach," he said.
They called 911.
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Now, the teenager's arm is bandaged and in a sort of brace.
"I think it's important that people know to be there for somebody if they're going through this kind of incident because something that helped me was having friends and family around," he said.
As for his future on the water? Teddy will surf again, and probably use that very same board.
"Because it's what I love to do. I love surfing. I do it everyday, it's what I grew up doing, it's my passion to become a pro surfer someday. So, I mean, I don't want a little--I mean, not a little bite, but a little hiccup to kind of throw me off," he said.
His father, Ted Wittemann, agreed.
"I just know that it's such a big part of Teddy's life," he said. "It's no hesitation really. I actually encourage him to go face those fears."
