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‘Am I going to lose my foot?’ UCF student recounts shark attack

Chris Pospisil suffers serious injury off New Smyrna Beach

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A UCF student is back home from the hospital after being bitten by a shark.

Chris Pospisil said he was surfing with his friend, Reece Redish, when the shark attacked.

“All of a sudden, the shark came from under me. I was sitting on my board, and it came up and started ripping me backwards,” Pospilsil said.

Video from a surveillance camera shows Redish swimming toward Pospilsil while his leg was still in the shark’s mouth.

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“I hear splashes, I look over, Chris is underwater. He pops up screaming, ‘I got bit!’” Redish said.

Once back ashore, they said Volusia County lifeguards quickly stopped the bleeding.

“I remember asking the lifeguard, ‘Am I going to lose my foot?’ He was like, ‘I don’t know man,’” Pospilsil said.

In the hospital, he underwent surgery on his foot, and he hopes to make a full recovery in six-to-eight months.

He also said he already misses being in the water surfing.

“I’ll have some nerve damage on my foot because the shark took out all the nerves on my foot. That’s not as detrimental as the bottom of my foot, but the bottom of my foot is going to make a full recovery,” Pospilsil said.

The family has set up a fundraiser for out-of-network medical costs here.

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About the Author
Troy Campbell headshot

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.

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