Florida shark attack survivor, 10, warns of simple mistake people make in water
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: CBS News
A young girl is speaking out after a traumatic shark attack almost resulted in her losing her hand.
In June 2025, Leah Lendel was snorkelling off the coast of Boca Grande, Florida, with her family when an eight-foot bull shark attacked her.
Leah, who was just nine years old at the time, almost had her hand severed by the shark but, by means of a miracle, surgeons were able to reattach the young girl's appendage.
On the day of shocking incident, Leah was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital where she underwent hours of surgery.
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Had emergency responders not had Leah airlifted to hopsital as quickly as they did, she may have lost her hand completely. Once she arrived in Tampa she was on the operating table within an hour, it was reported at the time.
While the horrifying incident might have put a child (or adult) off ever going in the ocean again, Leah frequently visits the spot where it happened and has already gone back into the water.
Her mom, Nadia Lendel, described her daughter as 'fearless'. She told CBS News about going back to the beach where the attack occurred last summer: "We come out here often, per her request. We just sit and remember what happened, but also it was such a great outcome for her. She's alive."
Leah has almost made a full recovery and is working with a therapist to regain the strength in her hand and wrist.
"I can't really play piano now," Leah, now 10 years old, said. "And I can't pick up more than eight pounds. But me and my therapist are working for me to get my wrist strength back."
She went on to share her advise to others in the wake of her scary experience and said: "I would recommend not swimming in murky water."
Leah also reminded people that sharks attacking humans is 'really rare' — and she's right.
Last year, the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File investigated 105 alleged shark-human interactions that occurred across the whole globe and concluded that 65 attacks were unprovoked. Meanwhile, 29 were found to be provoked. This means that a human initiated interaction with a shark in some way.
Like Leah, Florida Museum said that a person's risk of being bitten by a shark is 'extremely low'.
"The total number of unprovoked shark bites worldwide remains extremely low," it stated.