An American tourist's holiday in the Bahamas turned into a nightmare when she lost her leg after being savagely attacked by a shark.
Heidi Ernst, a retired physical therapist from Marshalltown, Iowa, was attacked just a month after completing her 500th scuba dive.
The 73-year-old was at a dive site known as "shark junction" near Taino Beach in Grand Bahama. Heidi was on a ladder climbing up into the boat when the shark clamped down on her left calf.
She said she could see the predator thrashing in the water but for some reason, it fled.
Heidi said as soon as she made it back on the boat, she knew her leg could not be saved.
"There was blood everywhere", she told the Gazette from her hospital bed in Miami.
She continued: "I was dying. I was going to bleed to death. I was afraid I was going to die and was in severe pain."
She was then airlifted to a trauma centre in Miami, where doctors were forced to amputate her leg because of the extent of the injury and the high risk of infection.
"He did not think that it would be a good idea to try and save the leg because of future problems with infection. So I said, 'Yeah, let’s just do it. Let’s just amputate' and that night they took me into the operating room and did it", she explained.
Despite the ordeal, she said she does not blame the shark for the loss of her leg from the shin down.
She said: "For a shark to come up to the surface is not a natural thing, But the shark knew that there was food to be had at a boat. And he thought my leg was the food."
The recent widow has now undergone six surgeries, with the most recent one on Thursday to close up her stump.
Heidi said she has no plans to quit diving, which she called her "biggest passion."
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Heidi's friend Kim Barnes to help pay for substantial medical and travel expenses not covered by her insurance.
The page reads: "Heidi is a proud, independent woman that does not like to ask for help but her friends want to help her and this is a way."
