Winter says she remembers giving up for a brief moment before catching a second wind.
“I was like, ‘no, wait a minute, I can’t do that. Like, that’s not an option!’” she recalls.
After a few minutes, her body went into shock and she eventually stopped feeling any pain. And although she was working up all of her strength to fight the shark, nothing was working.
She began to pray.
Meanwhile, her dad, Charlie Winter, was on the move. He said he ran as fast as he could when he saw that his daughter was in danger.
“You could tell where she was because you could see pink on the water,” he told GMA.
Luckily he managed to punch the shark in a move that authorities say wound up saving the girl’s life.
Now she calls him her hero.
Winter suffered “deep lacerations to her leg, pelvic and hand areas” and had to be airlifted to a trauma center. Despite her life-changing injuries, the vibrant teen says she hopes to turn the terrifying experience into a positive one.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with the cost of Winter’s surgeries and recovery.
