15-Year-Old Shark Attack Survivor Fighting Brutal Infection to Keep Sporting Love Alive: “Just Wanna Recover”

15-year-old Annabelle Carlson is an adventurous soul with a love for sports. So when a family trip took her to Belize in August 2024, the teenager went scuba diving. However, things took a shocking turn as the young diver fell victim to a shark attack. “It came from under the boat. It started attacking my hands,” said the teenager.

Her mother discussed the shocking moment while speaking to NBC’s Morgan Chesky. “I’m screaming, yelling, ‘Somebody help! Help her!'” said Mrs. Carlson. However, even as they pulled the Aspen, Colorado, resident on the boat, another shark bit her leg. “You can probably imagine my horror when I look down and my leg is not there,” the youngster told 9News.

However, despite the massive injuries, the teenage sports enthusiast’s spirit and love for sports have not dimmed. Despite battling an infection from their wounds that’ll take a year of continuous antibiotics to heal, the teenager is already looking ahead to getting back to normalcy. “I just wanna recover as much as I can,” said Carlson, who is learning to walk with a prosthetic leg.

Her ever-supportive mother, Kellie Carlson, is also hopeful that her daughter will return to doing what she loves, as best as she can. “Maybe go scuba diving again,” said Mrs. Carlson in response to her daughter’s zeal to recover. The shark attack survivor agreed although it’s only been four months since the traumatic experience. “Yeah, hopefully getting back into the ocean as soon as possible too,” she added.

However, the Aspen native may have to wait many more months before getting back into the ocean. Besides the infection and the new prosthetic leg, the 15-year-old must also fully recover from the seven surgeries it took to repair both her hands. Yet that hasn’t hindered her love for diving, and she is open to at least trying to see if she can play again. Thankfully, footage from TODAY showed that she could. Unfortunately, Carlson’s case is part of a worrying pattern.

The rising shark attack rate of shark attacks

As chilling as it may sound, Annabelle Carlson’s case is far from the exception. Whether it’s swimmers, divers, or surfers, more and more people are having encounters with the ocean predator. In fact, within two months of Carlson’s horrific experience, a teenage surfing enthusiast met with a similar accident.

16-year-old Teddy Wittemann from Brevard County was riding the waves when he felt a sharp pain in his arm. As the teen looked over, a shark had his arm in its mouth. “Just out of nowhere, it got the inside of my arm and (snaps finger) just like that,” Wittmann told WESH2. Just like Annabelle Carlson, Wittemann also expressed his desire to get back to the sport he loves.

However, shark attacks have increased manyfold over the decades. A study that looked at fatal attacks in Australia from 1960 to 2017 concluded that out of the 187 attacks on water sports enthusiasts, 28 were confirmed deaths. However, the Florida Museum of Natural History’s 2023 International Shark Attack File showed how incidents have been on the rise.

The ISAF concluded that there have been 91 verified attacks across the world in 2023 alone. The file showed that the USA led the raking with 36 unprovoked attacks, while Australia ranked second with 15. And while these shark attacks will leave lifelong scars on teens such as Annabelle Carlson and Teddy Wittemann, their will to pursue their passion remains the same.