NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. – A day at the beach for one teen surfer turned into a hospital trip Saturday.
Kelton Beardall, 15, of Atlantic Beach, was bitten by a shark while out surfing in the waters at New Smyrna Beach. He was with his Quicksilver manager and family when it happened.
Kelton said the pain is just starting to set in because the medication he's been on is wearing off, but his mother was shocked at how calm he was when the attack first happened.
A day in the waves is totally normal for Keltonl, who's been surfing since he was 4. However, getting bitten by a shark is not a normal occurrence.
"I was going down the line, surfing, and I was trying to do an air and I kicked out of the air in mid-air, and then I landed on the shark and it bit me once,” he said. “Then, two seconds later it bit me again, and the second, it was a lot worse. I mean, I landed on it, so it was probably kind of mad."
Kelton was afraid the shark had taken off his entire foot.
"The second time I got bit I thought he got my whole foot,” Kelton said. "I was like, I lost my foot. I was freaking out. And I caught a wave on my stomach and I saw that I still had my foot, and I'm like, ‘Yes!"
Eve Beardall was shocked to find out it was her son, who was attacked.
“(It’s) every mother's nightmare to look down the beach and say, ‘Wow, that guy, he's hurt, his foot, (to) know that guy has been bitten. The guy’s falling down, he needs help. That guy is my son, and then just try to get there as fast as you can."
Amazingly enough Kelton was feeling well enough to snap a video during his ambulance ride and walk into the hospital on his own.
"It started hitting me, like, 'I got bit by a shark,' in the ambulance because I never looked at it,” Kelton said. "I didn't want to, and then in the back of the ambulance I looked at it and I was so grossed out. (I was) freaking out then.”
Twenty-four hours later Kelton Beardall was doing well and said he'll be ready to get back into the water in about a month or two.
Kelton didn't need surgery, just a few stitches. Doctors said he'll be back to walking in about a month.