A Dallas woman is recovering in a Fort Lauderdale hospital after her family said she was bitten by a shark while vacationing in the Bahamas.
Lacy Webb Martin, 34, told her grandmother she was in the water nearby the family’s catamaran when they believe a tiger shark sunk its teeth into her back.
“She was down there and she was trying to take a picture of a sting ray and her husband was down there with her and she said, 'I’ve just been bitten by a shark.' Everybody started laughing because they thought she was being funny and she said 'get out of the water,'" explained Martin’s grandmother, Mary Lacy of Dallas.
“She said it bit her and shook her twice. She pulled herself onto the boat.”
Lacy said the shark took a chunk out of Martin’s back from below her shoulder blade down to her buttocks.
The couple was lucky to be with friends and family who quickly issued a mayday call and a medical boat was also nearby.
Martin was in an air ambulance within minutes.
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“It all worked out and she was very lucky because they say people who normally get shark bit in the islands don’t make it back. It’s too long of a distance,” said Lacy.
Martin is now in a Fort Lauderdale hospital and has undergone at least two surgeries.
Lacy was able to speak to her granddaughter by phone.
“I talked to her this morning they were just getting ready to take her in for a second operation. They said they were going to clean out the wound, make sure there's not an infection and look for shark teeth, she said. "I told them if they find any shark teeth. I wanted them."
Lacy said it’s was her granddaughters calm attitude that kept her alive.
“They said the fact she didn’t go into a panic, that was one of the things that probably saved her life.”
Lacy said Martin will remain in the hospital for two weeks to a month.
After that she’ll return to Dallas for further procedures and rehabilitation.
