The first thing that crossed Jacorey High's mind when he felt a shark bite his foot was not the pain or fear, but getting his fiancée out of the water.
The 22-year-old young man, a resident of Henry County, Georgia, survived a shark attack on Saturday while swimming in the shallow waters of Daytona Beach, Florida. He is now recovering from surgery and recounts how he experienced the seconds that changed his vacation.
According to a report by FOX 5 Atlanta, High and his fiancée were near the Dunlawton beach access around 5:30 PM when a medium-sized shark bit him on his left foot and ankle.
"I realized right away that it was a shark by the way it bit my foot, but I was more worried about getting my fiancée out of the water," he recalled.
The adrenaline was so high that the young man barely felt the extent of his injuries.
"I didn't really feel it until I got to the hospital, when they started giving me medication," she explained.
He/She is recovering after surgery
High underwent surgery this Sunday to treat the injuries caused by the bite and is currently hospitalized in Florida.
Although the authorities classified the injuries as non-lethal, the recovery process is proving to be complicated.
"Every time I try to go to the bathroom or do anything else, I start bleeding from my leg and the pain intensifies because I have to hop around everywhere," she recounted.
The young man and his family had arrived in Florida on July 22nd to enjoy a few days of vacation, a trip that ultimately turned into a traumatic experience.
Still, he/she remains optimistic and hopes to make a full recovery.
"I hope I haven't injured anything important in my foot so I can return to work," he said.
Daytona Beach, one of the areas with the most shark attacks
The incident occurred in Volusia County, known as the world capital of shark bites.
According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF) at the University of Florida, that region has recorded 351 unprovoked attacks since 1882, more than any other part of the world.
Only in 2025, the county accounted for six of the eleven documented unprovoked attacks across the state of Florida. Specialists note that most of these correspond to "hit and run" incidents, in which the shark bites briefly and then retreats, so they rarely result in fatalities.
The attack in High adds to other recent incidents in Florida. In June of this year, a civilian employee at the NSA Panama City naval base suffered severe injuries to both arms after being attacked by a shark, while that same month, one of these animals was reported among bathers in Miami Beach.
In July 2024, a 14-year-old teenager was also bitten on the foot while swimming in Daytona Beach Shores, in one of the four attacks recorded in just a week in Volusia County.
The authorities have not disclosed how long Jacorey High will remain hospitalized or when he will be able to return to Georgia, as he continues to recover from an episode that, he himself acknowledges, could have ended in a much more tragic way.
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