A brave 13-year-old girl fought off a huge shark after it bit her in the side as she sat in shallow waters in a horrific beach attack in Florida.
Ella Reed was enjoying a day at the beach on Thursday, May 11, sitting in the shallow water at Fort Pierce Beach in Florida when a shark chomped down on her side causing her excruciating pain.
Recalling the nightmare moment, she said: "The shark was so powerful.
"That was what I felt he most because it was hitting my stomach really hard."
She told local news outlet Local 10 News that she punched the shark as it sawm up to her, with it swimming away. But shortly after it ended up swimming right back to her.
"It wouldn't leave me alone," she said. "So I had to use my arm and use my hand too, so it got my arm and my finger."
After the shark approached her once again, she called to her mum and brother. Ella's mum said she was in shock to see the shark swimming around her daughter.
"First, initially, I seriously thought it was a prank," said Devin Reed, Ella's mum.
"It was insane because she was totally covered in blood pretty much from head to toe, so she couldn't really see what went on," her mum recalled.
Having lived in the quiet community of North Hutchinson Island for more than 20 years, Devin told WPTV she'd never been very worried about a shark bite, despite often seeing them in the water.
"Never thought in a million years, not my kids," she explained. "They swim, go surfing. They know how to stay away from bait balls and stuff like that.
"The whole thing is surreal. It sounds like a movie. It doesn't feel real, not yet."
After being bitten in the stomach, arm, finger and the top of her knee, Ella went on to receive 19 stitches in total. "I was kinda in shock about everything that happened," she recalled. "So I wasn't really in pain because the adrenaline was through the roof."
Ella's mum was impressed with how cool, calm and collected her teenage daughter remained through the entire experience - from bite to stitches. "There was blood everywhere and she was more of a trooper than anyone else," she said.
"We were all just shocked that it even happened. She was so calm even when we got in the hospital. She was telling all the nurses, 'You can take pictures.' She was like a pro.
"Pretty scary stuff, but thankfully she's there talking to you and once you can see she's okay then you calm down a bit."
From Florida, the teen said she's never been afraid of the ocean and even after her terrifying encounter she plans on getting right back in the water.
"It was clear water so you never really know when it's going to happen," she explained.
Ella thinks she was bitten by a bull shark, thought to be about five to six feet long. She's now at home recovering after the ordeal but says she's proud of her scars because she knows it could have been much, much worse.
