WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.603 --> 00:00:07.273 The merciless wild. 2 00:00:07.273 --> 00:00:10.310 The heartless seems 3 00:00:10.443 --> 00:00:12.812 when nature unleashes her cruelty. 4 00:00:13.747 --> 00:00:15.849 Could you escape? 5 00:00:16.149 --> 00:00:19.119 Could use survive. 6 00:00:19.119 --> 00:00:20.787 These are the true stories 7 00:00:20.787 --> 00:00:23.656 of outdoorsmen confronted by death. 8 00:00:24.424 --> 00:00:27.694 Armed with raw courage and a will to live, 9 00:00:28.561 --> 00:00:30.630 they are the ones who beat the odds 10 00:00:32.132 --> 00:00:34.467 and return from their own fight 11 00:00:34.567 --> 00:00:37.037 to survive. 12 00:00:39.205 --> 00:00:40.640 It's another perfect day 13 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.643 of spear fishing for a band of friends on the Gulf. 14 00:00:43.643 --> 00:00:46.413 As beautiful day as clear, calm, perfect. 15 00:00:46.479 --> 00:00:50.116 But the tranquility and beauty are about to be torn apart 16 00:00:50.116 --> 00:00:52.185 by a set of vicious jaws. 17 00:00:54.054 --> 00:00:56.056 I looked down and saw it was a shark. 18 00:00:56.056 --> 00:00:58.224 A young man's life hangs in the balance 19 00:00:59.125 --> 00:01:02.228 after an unprovoked attack from out of the ocean's depths. 20 00:01:03.463 --> 00:01:04.898 Within a split second. 21 00:01:04.898 --> 00:01:07.567 There's a five foot radius of blood around him. 22 00:01:07.767 --> 00:01:12.906 And now courage and selfless loyalty will be tested to the utmost. 23 00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:14.774 I didn't think he was going to make it in. 24 00:01:14.774 --> 00:01:16.609 He was white as a ghost. 25 00:01:20.880 --> 00:01:23.516 September 24th, 2011 26 00:01:23.883 --> 00:01:27.287 is another gorgeous day off Longboat Key, Florida. 27 00:01:28.254 --> 00:01:31.458 A group of lifelong friends head into the Gulf of Mexico 28 00:01:31.624 --> 00:01:33.726 for a day of spearfishing. 29 00:01:33.726 --> 00:01:36.229 It's a trip they've taken hundreds of times, 30 00:01:36.229 --> 00:01:41.234 but today's adventure would be very different. 31 00:01:45.138 --> 00:01:47.507 C.J. Wickersham family has lived 32 00:01:47.507 --> 00:01:50.810 in this fisherman's paradise since the 1920s. 33 00:01:52.412 --> 00:01:55.215 Dad, my prayers for everybody in my family who grew up fishing. 34 00:01:55.215 --> 00:02:00.353 And then so I started fishing when I was probably one or two very horrible. 35 00:02:01.321 --> 00:02:03.389 C.J. and best friend Conner Bystrom 36 00:02:03.623 --> 00:02:06.392 have grown up together here, 37 00:02:06.426 --> 00:02:08.962 and their sport of choice is fear fishing. 38 00:02:10.263 --> 00:02:11.764 We met in elementary school. 39 00:02:11.764 --> 00:02:15.668 They grew up together and we've always fished and played sports together. 40 00:02:15.935 --> 00:02:18.571 And we just bonded ever since we're kids. 41 00:02:18.571 --> 00:02:19.339 Spearfishing. 42 00:02:19.339 --> 00:02:22.542 We would wake up early at offshore, go out more than 15 43 00:02:22.542 --> 00:02:25.778 miles in the Gulf, have different record numbers and jump in. 44 00:02:25.778 --> 00:02:28.781 And then we had to come up to fish and go down there. 45 00:02:28.781 --> 00:02:32.252 And I grew up doing that and then all my buddies do it. 46 00:02:32.252 --> 00:02:36.422 So we go out all the time every weekend. 47 00:02:37.757 --> 00:02:39.959 Today it's the usual crew. 48 00:02:39.959 --> 00:02:40.727 There's C.J. 49 00:02:40.727 --> 00:02:45.932 and Conner, Katie Oshie, Kira Lee and Max. 50 00:02:47.033 --> 00:02:51.104 The friends set a course west northwest for Anna maria island, 51 00:02:51.571 --> 00:02:54.774 dropping anchor four miles offshore first. 52 00:02:55.041 --> 00:02:56.643 It's like 35, 40 feet deep. 53 00:02:56.643 --> 00:02:58.711 And we want to try that for our first spot 54 00:02:58.711 --> 00:03:00.780 to see if there's any hard fish or grouper on it. 55 00:03:01.114 --> 00:03:05.451 It's Conner and Lee and Max all got in the water to start diving. 56 00:03:07.587 --> 00:03:09.455 The group likes to free dove. 57 00:03:09.455 --> 00:03:12.125 They use no scuba gear, no tanks, 58 00:03:12.292 --> 00:03:15.695 no regulators, no weights, and no air 59 00:03:15.929 --> 00:03:20.667 except what they can hold in their lungs as they plunge deep with their spears. 60 00:03:21.367 --> 00:03:23.736 Pretty cool to be able to. 61 00:03:23.736 --> 00:03:24.204 Just. 62 00:03:24.704 --> 00:03:27.407 Hold your breath for a few minutes and go down 63 00:03:27.941 --> 00:03:31.477 like 50, 60, 70, 80 feet on a breath of air to shoot 64 00:03:31.911 --> 00:03:38.184 like a big 20, £30 grouper, big amberjack or hog fish or something of that sort. 65 00:03:39.485 --> 00:03:42.021 Spearfishing is hunting underwater. 66 00:03:43.122 --> 00:03:47.327 The fish here, like in their environment and nowhere to hide and stuff. 67 00:03:47.327 --> 00:03:49.562 So yeah, I try to find them like where they get in there. 68 00:03:50.063 --> 00:03:51.864 Like the group are going to take a ledges in the holes 69 00:03:51.864 --> 00:03:55.368 and I try to find them like back up inside there and get them out, 70 00:03:55.702 --> 00:03:57.303 which is pretty fun to do. 71 00:03:57.303 --> 00:03:59.305 That's pretty thrilling. 72 00:03:59.672 --> 00:04:00.807 Like hunters. 73 00:04:00.807 --> 00:04:02.709 Spear fishermen, spot and stock. 74 00:04:02.709 --> 00:04:06.913 The larger specimens without having to depend on the luck of hook and bait. 75 00:04:08.147 --> 00:04:11.584 So we go spear and we shoot a lot of grouper, which rain 76 00:04:11.584 --> 00:04:17.624 fry from 24 to 35 inches, which is probably 10 to £20. 77 00:04:17.957 --> 00:04:20.460 A lot of the fish which I shoot, which are really good, are hog fish, 78 00:04:20.827 --> 00:04:24.831 and they usually fry from like 14 inches to 2022 inches. 79 00:04:24.931 --> 00:04:25.465 I mean, probably 80 00:04:26.466 --> 00:04:28.868 like five or £6. 81 00:04:28.868 --> 00:04:33.373 Lee and Conner shoot two hog fish each, but they're hunting for grouper 82 00:04:33.406 --> 00:04:34.474 or snapper. 83 00:04:34.474 --> 00:04:37.210 They pull the anchor and head another mile out 84 00:04:37.377 --> 00:04:41.247 and find the right spot. 85 00:04:43.283 --> 00:04:45.184 Every time we went down, one of us would shoot 86 00:04:45.184 --> 00:04:47.520 at least a hog fish or a mega snapper. 87 00:04:47.687 --> 00:04:49.922 They're fairly clear, but you don't see top to bottom. 88 00:04:50.156 --> 00:04:53.192 So that's good. 89 00:04:53.192 --> 00:04:54.694 The buddy system is crucial 90 00:04:54.694 --> 00:04:58.564 in diving dozens of feet down with just the air in your lungs. 91 00:04:58.865 --> 00:05:00.667 Anything can go wrong. 92 00:05:00.667 --> 00:05:05.405 Getting tangled in line or stuck in the rocks or dragged off by a big catch. 93 00:05:05.972 --> 00:05:10.476 You need your friends close by to keep an eye out. 94 00:05:11.311 --> 00:05:13.913 These waters are also filled with bull sharks. 95 00:05:14.580 --> 00:05:19.218 Despite their fearsome reputations, sharks are not a major concern for C.J. 96 00:05:19.218 --> 00:05:20.053 and his friends. 97 00:05:23.022 --> 00:05:24.657 Usually when we will go out and spear 98 00:05:24.657 --> 00:05:27.660 fish on wrecks in different areas, you'll see sharks all the time. 99 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:28.695 They usually come in 100 00:05:28.695 --> 00:05:31.531 and they kind of check you out and then kind of roll on their way. 101 00:05:32.098 --> 00:05:35.268 The bulls are among the most notorious of sharks, 102 00:05:35.601 --> 00:05:38.805 large up to 12 feet and £500. 103 00:05:39.105 --> 00:05:43.576 They will swim into shallow water and even into freshwater rivers and lakes. 104 00:05:44.043 --> 00:05:48.214 Bull sharks are believed responsible for the series of fatal attacks 105 00:05:48.214 --> 00:05:51.284 on the Jersey Shore in July 1916 106 00:05:51.818 --> 00:05:55.021 that inspired the novel and movie Jaws. 107 00:05:55.421 --> 00:05:59.392 Their one saving grace is that they take time to grow curious. 108 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:03.996 So a diver usually has a chance to put some distance between him and the shark. 109 00:06:04.630 --> 00:06:06.766 And we're spear fishing and we've got a bunch of sharks come in. 110 00:06:06.799 --> 00:06:08.401 It gets too sharky. 111 00:06:08.401 --> 00:06:12.038 We'll pull the anchor and go to another spot just to kind of get away from that. 112 00:06:12.572 --> 00:06:17.176 An inherent risk of spearfishing is the blood speared fish put in the water. 113 00:06:18.511 --> 00:06:21.047 We'll shoot the fish and swim back to the boat and throw in the boat. 114 00:06:21.047 --> 00:06:21.748 But that doesn't mean 115 00:06:21.748 --> 00:06:24.717 that there's not going to be sharks around there, always around somewhere. 116 00:06:25.718 --> 00:06:27.520 When your spirit and all the fish are going to bleed 117 00:06:27.520 --> 00:06:30.423 no matter where you shoot them, and it does release blood 118 00:06:30.423 --> 00:06:32.725 and that blood attracts sharks. 119 00:06:33.693 --> 00:06:37.163 It's a possibility with that kind of sport and then shooting fish and then bleeding 120 00:06:37.663 --> 00:06:40.933 that you can get attacked. 121 00:06:41.067 --> 00:06:42.869 This Saturday, C.J. 122 00:06:42.869 --> 00:06:44.937 and his dove buddies are taking care. 123 00:06:44.937 --> 00:06:48.174 They're keeping their stringers and fish blood out of the water. 124 00:06:48.441 --> 00:06:52.044 And not a single shark has come in even to have a look. 125 00:06:53.079 --> 00:06:54.414 It was actually a great morning. 126 00:06:54.414 --> 00:06:55.381 It was a beautiful day. 127 00:06:55.381 --> 00:06:57.517 It was clear, calm, perfect. 128 00:06:57.517 --> 00:07:01.020 We speared a bunch of fish that day, shot quite a few hog fish and grouper. 129 00:07:01.053 --> 00:07:03.156 We never saw a shark in the water all day. 130 00:07:04.023 --> 00:07:09.962 The shark that bites, though, is not the one you see, but the one that sees you. 131 00:07:11.564 --> 00:07:14.534 You see them all the time and you know you're aware of them, 132 00:07:14.534 --> 00:07:16.869 but you just never think it's actually going to happen. 133 00:07:18.104 --> 00:07:20.506 I never really thought that I would get attacked by a shark 134 00:07:20.740 --> 00:07:22.041 when I was other diving. 135 00:07:22.041 --> 00:07:25.945 C.J thought wrong. 136 00:07:28.314 --> 00:07:30.183 It's a sunny September Saturday 137 00:07:30.183 --> 00:07:33.719 of spearfishing for seven friends in the Gulf of Mexico. 138 00:07:34.787 --> 00:07:38.491 By early afternoon one, the stringers hold a dozen hard fish, 139 00:07:38.825 --> 00:07:42.028 three decent groupers and some mangrove snapper. 140 00:07:42.795 --> 00:07:45.097 Some of the group are taking a break on board the boat 141 00:07:45.465 --> 00:07:49.235 while others are off the back, sunbathing on inflatable rafts. 142 00:07:50.236 --> 00:07:52.038 And 21 year old C.J. 143 00:07:52.038 --> 00:07:54.707 Wickersham is in the water alone. 144 00:07:55.274 --> 00:07:59.078 Free diving with his spear gun in search of the catch of the day. 145 00:08:00.580 --> 00:08:02.815 I went down, shot a hog fish and came back 146 00:08:02.815 --> 00:08:06.819 and put it in the boat. 147 00:08:06.819 --> 00:08:10.022 And I hopped back in because when I shot that one, I saw a few more 148 00:08:10.022 --> 00:08:14.460 good sized ones down there. 149 00:08:14.460 --> 00:08:18.231 I went back down one more time, shot a mangrove snapper, and I missed it. 150 00:08:18.364 --> 00:08:19.599 So I came back up top. 151 00:08:19.599 --> 00:08:22.635 It was just sitting there for a second, catch my breath before I loaded my gun. 152 00:08:22.768 --> 00:08:25.471 Then the next day, I kind of I felt like a bump 153 00:08:27.206 --> 00:08:28.808 tugging on my leg. 154 00:08:29.442 --> 00:08:30.776 I looked down 155 00:08:31.344 --> 00:08:32.912 and saw it was a shark. 156 00:08:32.912 --> 00:08:36.382 Sausage, kind of flail on the water 157 00:08:36.382 --> 00:08:36.983 board his head. 158 00:08:36.983 --> 00:08:39.218 And he started screaming. 159 00:08:39.385 --> 00:08:43.523 And then within a split second of a five foot radius of blood around him. 160 00:08:43.923 --> 00:08:46.592 And you just knew it wasn't good. 161 00:08:46.592 --> 00:08:50.129 Without the possibility of flight, CJ's fight response 162 00:08:50.162 --> 00:08:52.465 takes hold as he pounds on the shark. 163 00:08:54.033 --> 00:08:57.870 That took my fist, like, close to, like, hit it as hard as I could on the nose. 164 00:08:58.070 --> 00:08:58.938 Shark. 165 00:08:59.038 --> 00:08:59.939 I just looked down. 166 00:08:59.939 --> 00:09:02.041 I could see how your platform immediately ripped open. 167 00:09:02.842 --> 00:09:04.810 Connor reacts with blind courage, 168 00:09:04.810 --> 00:09:07.647 diving into the water to swim to his friend's rescue. 169 00:09:08.915 --> 00:09:11.384 I remember Connor jumping in the water really fast. 170 00:09:11.384 --> 00:09:12.818 He only had one flipper on. 171 00:09:12.818 --> 00:09:15.254 They swim over to me as fast as he could. 172 00:09:15.254 --> 00:09:18.224 When I jumped in the water and saw his leg, could see his femur, 173 00:09:18.324 --> 00:09:20.259 it was pouring blood out so fast like it looked like 174 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:22.895 a faucet was turned on underwater with blood coming out of it. 175 00:09:22.962 --> 00:09:23.763 I mean, this shocked me. 176 00:09:23.763 --> 00:09:24.697 I just saw it and I just 177 00:09:24.697 --> 00:09:27.466 I yelled back to the boat before I got to him to just have a rope ready 178 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.702 to tie on the legs. And I grabbed him. 179 00:09:29.702 --> 00:09:30.870 We swam back to the boat. 180 00:09:30.870 --> 00:09:36.142 Max, and we grabbed him around his shoulders and pull him over the boat. 181 00:09:36.442 --> 00:09:42.181 It's a gory spectacle that sends terror through almost everyone. 182 00:09:44.116 --> 00:09:46.953 A gaping wound 15 inches across, 183 00:09:47.286 --> 00:09:51.123 punctuated by ragged tooth marks. 184 00:09:52.658 --> 00:09:55.761 Once we got back to the boat, I just kind of, like, closed his wound 185 00:09:55.761 --> 00:09:57.029 and had a rope. 186 00:09:57.029 --> 00:09:59.365 And I just kept twisting and I couldn't twist anymore. 187 00:09:59.532 --> 00:10:03.436 And then his leg just turned white, and he quit bleeding. 188 00:10:03.736 --> 00:10:06.372 Meanwhile, Chiara was on the phone to 911. 189 00:10:06.572 --> 00:10:08.007 They're telling us what to do. 190 00:10:08.007 --> 00:10:11.911 We needed to put pressure on the wound and grab towels around it until I mean, 191 00:10:11.911 --> 00:10:14.280 they're like, if it bleeds to the Talon, wrap another one around it. 192 00:10:15.548 --> 00:10:18.150 Katie You know, she handed towels over to me and I was 193 00:10:18.184 --> 00:10:22.288 wrapped around his leg and just holding in and the first two towels bled through. 194 00:10:22.288 --> 00:10:25.591 And I think we end up putting three on it and then you wouldn't see by 195 00:10:25.591 --> 00:10:26.692 the third towel. So 196 00:10:28.361 --> 00:10:29.462 I didn't think he was going to make it. 197 00:10:29.462 --> 00:10:31.697 And he was white as a ghost. 198 00:10:31.697 --> 00:10:33.599 He was complaining that his chest was tangling 199 00:10:33.599 --> 00:10:36.535 kind of a few miles offshore and his hands were really tingling. 200 00:10:36.535 --> 00:10:38.371 And only thing I could think of 201 00:10:38.371 --> 00:10:40.406 is that he probably doesn't have too much blood left. 202 00:10:41.707 --> 00:10:44.510 Lee kept talking to him and giving him water and holding his head 203 00:10:44.510 --> 00:10:47.847 while we were full throttle and from six miles out. 204 00:10:47.847 --> 00:10:50.416 So that helped a lot. 205 00:10:51.317 --> 00:10:55.121 Strangely, the only one who seems unaffected is C.J.. 206 00:10:55.755 --> 00:10:58.724 I don't remember seeing what it looks like. 207 00:10:58.724 --> 00:11:00.726 It didn't really hurt too bad at first. 208 00:11:00.726 --> 00:11:04.730 And then once they pulled me in the boat and they tried to turn it off 209 00:11:04.730 --> 00:11:07.933 my hands and feet, and everything started like tingling. 210 00:11:09.435 --> 00:11:10.002 I didn't really feel 211 00:11:10.002 --> 00:11:13.172 like too much pain to the tee this hour, but just there right through it. 212 00:11:13.172 --> 00:11:15.341 That didn't really hurt. Too bad 213 00:11:16.275 --> 00:11:17.343 the lack of pain 214 00:11:17.343 --> 00:11:20.146 and CJ's lethargy are danger signs. 215 00:11:20.646 --> 00:11:23.282 The sharks bite has severed the femoral artery 216 00:11:23.582 --> 00:11:27.720 and the rapid loss of blood from the massive wound has sent him into shock. 217 00:11:28.387 --> 00:11:32.625 His body is shutting down, his life slipping away 218 00:11:33.292 --> 00:11:35.961 unless the bleeding can be stopped by his friends. 219 00:11:36.529 --> 00:11:39.331 C.J. will be dead in a matter of minutes. 220 00:11:40.733 --> 00:11:43.369 The 911 operator calls ahead for a medevac 221 00:11:43.369 --> 00:11:47.073 helicopter to be waiting on standby at the nearest rendezvous point 222 00:11:47.506 --> 00:11:50.376 off rod and reappear on the northern end of Anna 223 00:11:50.376 --> 00:11:53.145 maria Island at the boat's helm. 224 00:11:53.512 --> 00:11:58.150 Max has the throttle wide open to cross the six miles of Gulf waters 225 00:11:58.350 --> 00:12:03.389 as swiftly as possible, while CJ's friends struggle to keep him conscious. 226 00:12:04.323 --> 00:12:05.224 Every second 227 00:12:05.224 --> 00:12:08.260 counts as blood runs out over the boat's deck. 228 00:12:09.361 --> 00:12:12.031 All of his friends are working together 229 00:12:12.231 --> 00:12:21.140 to keep him awake and alive. 230 00:12:22.742 --> 00:12:25.311 It began as another Saturday of spearfishing 231 00:12:25.578 --> 00:12:28.414 for a group of young friends from Longboat Key, Florida. 232 00:12:28.848 --> 00:12:29.849 Now, C.J. 233 00:12:29.849 --> 00:12:31.917 Wickersham is fighting for his life 234 00:12:31.917 --> 00:12:34.754 after an ambush attacked by a ten foot bull shark. 235 00:12:35.521 --> 00:12:39.391 The predator has jaws with bite force of nearly £500 236 00:12:39.458 --> 00:12:43.863 and it has slashed CJ's thigh to the bone, cutting the femoral artery. 237 00:12:44.029 --> 00:12:46.665 They're now in a desperate race to get him to shore. 238 00:12:47.199 --> 00:12:51.837 They laid me on the floor and leg up behind my head and held my head up. 239 00:12:52.438 --> 00:12:55.641 And then Connor got to the anchor rope and tied it off my legs by 240 00:12:55.674 --> 00:12:58.210 as tight as he could for a target. I started bleeding. 241 00:12:59.245 --> 00:13:00.613 Once I saw 242 00:13:00.613 --> 00:13:03.048 the wound and how much I was bleeding, I didn't think we were going 243 00:13:03.048 --> 00:13:04.250 to be able to stop it. 244 00:13:04.250 --> 00:13:06.619 I didn't think you were going to make it in. He was white as a ghost. 245 00:13:06.652 --> 00:13:08.487 He was complaining that his chest was tangling 246 00:13:08.487 --> 00:13:11.457 kind of a few miles off shore and his hands were really tingling. 247 00:13:11.457 --> 00:13:15.227 And the only thing I could think of is that he doesn't have too much blood left. 248 00:13:16.495 --> 00:13:18.964 And they should keep me calm or give me water and stuff 249 00:13:18.964 --> 00:13:20.466 until you're going to be okay. 250 00:13:20.466 --> 00:13:21.500 They're trying out there. 251 00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:25.104 They want to freak me out by saying really bad or what it looks like. 252 00:13:26.272 --> 00:13:28.474 Sometimes I feel like I was going to go unconscious, but 253 00:13:29.208 --> 00:13:30.709 I was trying to keep myself awake. 254 00:13:30.709 --> 00:13:31.877 I told them to call my parents. 255 00:13:32.878 --> 00:13:34.480 Kira makes the call 256 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.483 first to CJ's mom, then to his dad. 257 00:13:38.951 --> 00:13:40.286 It was a Saturday afternoon. 258 00:13:40.286 --> 00:13:41.387 And around. 259 00:13:41.387 --> 00:13:44.123 3:00 and I just taking a shower 260 00:13:44.690 --> 00:13:47.159 and I heard a scream come out of my bedroom. 261 00:13:47.493 --> 00:13:52.498 I went in there and my wife, Ella, had said that she just been bitten by a shark 262 00:13:52.998 --> 00:13:56.235 and they're bringing them in to the pier 263 00:13:56.635 --> 00:13:59.138 to see what they can do for them. 264 00:13:59.772 --> 00:14:03.843 The run to the pier seems like a slow motion nightmare for C.J. 265 00:14:03.843 --> 00:14:06.812 and everyone else in the boat trying to keep him alive. 266 00:14:07.780 --> 00:14:09.748 On the way in, C.J. was very calm. 267 00:14:09.748 --> 00:14:11.116 He was responsive the whole way. 268 00:14:11.116 --> 00:14:13.752 He was never going in and out of consciousness. 269 00:14:14.119 --> 00:14:16.088 He was always there. He was drinking water. 270 00:14:16.088 --> 00:14:19.592 He was actually complaining about his heels hurting and that he is not his leg. 271 00:14:19.592 --> 00:14:22.194 Just remember, leaning on the gun on C.J. was very calm. 272 00:14:22.428 --> 00:14:24.196 I think he had a lot of trust in us. 273 00:14:24.196 --> 00:14:27.633 Everything that we told him to do at the 911 was telling us to do 274 00:14:27.733 --> 00:14:29.768 is just responding and doing everything. 275 00:14:29.768 --> 00:14:31.503 Like he showed up and being C.J. 276 00:14:31.503 --> 00:14:33.239 and how strong and big he is. 277 00:14:33.239 --> 00:14:34.840 I think if it would have been anybody else, 278 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:36.208 so it'd probably been a different outcome. 279 00:14:37.810 --> 00:14:40.379 C.J. is just clinging to consciousness. 280 00:14:40.512 --> 00:14:43.449 When the boat, which is sure. 281 00:14:43.682 --> 00:14:47.553 We ran into the rock and roll pier VMs was waiting on the pier. 282 00:14:47.653 --> 00:14:50.222 I didn't think we've got at least left C.J. up on the dock. 283 00:14:50.222 --> 00:14:52.658 So Max just ran in and grounded the boat 284 00:14:52.725 --> 00:14:54.827 right under the beach and the arms locked out. 285 00:14:54.827 --> 00:14:58.063 And they wanted to see the extent of the wound to get the helicopter there. 286 00:15:00.332 --> 00:15:03.602 The boat hit the bottom, so I knew we were at the beach there. 287 00:15:03.669 --> 00:15:07.239 When we got there, the paramedics were waiting. 288 00:15:07.339 --> 00:15:08.474 So they cut off the towels. 289 00:15:08.474 --> 00:15:10.509 And right when they saw it, they called the helicopter 290 00:15:12.444 --> 00:15:14.346 and we got him up under the gun off 291 00:15:14.346 --> 00:15:17.683 and they put him on a stretcher. 292 00:15:23.455 --> 00:15:25.824 Connor later told us that 293 00:15:25.824 --> 00:15:29.295 when they got to the beach, he said the boat was just a pool of blood. 294 00:15:30.396 --> 00:15:31.530 They brought the backboard out 295 00:15:31.530 --> 00:15:35.534 and put me in the ambulance right off the boat. 296 00:15:35.601 --> 00:15:39.371 Connor wants to climb into the ambulance to ride with his friend to the hospital. 297 00:15:39.805 --> 00:15:43.042 Not sure if this will be the last time he sees him alive. 298 00:15:44.810 --> 00:15:47.146 Once he got to the ambulance, I really wanted to go with him, 299 00:15:47.146 --> 00:15:49.381 but I couldn't go. 300 00:15:49.381 --> 00:15:51.984 The ambulance speeds three miles down the road 301 00:15:52.117 --> 00:15:54.720 to the Anna maria community center. 302 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.855 The medevac helicopter is standing by. 303 00:15:57.056 --> 00:15:58.824 Engine's running. 304 00:15:58.824 --> 00:16:00.726 It's a flying surgical unit. 305 00:16:00.726 --> 00:16:02.127 And the one chance C.J. 306 00:16:02.127 --> 00:16:04.830 Wickersham has of surviving is a terrible wound. 307 00:16:06.098 --> 00:16:08.834 By the time they got me in the helicopter, that's when they gave me, 308 00:16:09.435 --> 00:16:12.037 like, five or six units of blood, which you only have, 309 00:16:12.271 --> 00:16:14.106 they say like 8 to 10 years of blood in me. 310 00:16:14.106 --> 00:16:18.744 So I lost more than half my blood by the time that I'd gotten to the helicopter. 311 00:16:20.145 --> 00:16:22.548 C.J. is flown to Bayfront Medical Center 312 00:16:22.548 --> 00:16:26.285 in Saint Petersburg, and his family and friends rushed to his side. 313 00:16:27.853 --> 00:16:29.254 We really had no idea. 314 00:16:29.254 --> 00:16:34.426 It was definitely a scary experience and we had no idea how bad it was been. 315 00:16:34.426 --> 00:16:38.297 CJ's distraught parents arrived just minutes before he is taken in 316 00:16:38.297 --> 00:16:41.533 for his first emergency surgery. 317 00:16:41.533 --> 00:16:44.336 When we first got in there, the emergency room, he was covered up. 318 00:16:44.370 --> 00:16:47.940 They had a sheet over him and everything, and he was totally white and. 319 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:49.341 He was. You know, really hurt. 320 00:16:49.341 --> 00:16:51.510 And you could tell that he really didn't say much. 321 00:16:51.510 --> 00:16:54.713 You know, we just kind of looked at him just and told him we loved him 322 00:16:55.647 --> 00:16:59.251 and then he killed them off. 323 00:16:59.251 --> 00:16:59.952 As C.J. 324 00:16:59.952 --> 00:17:03.622 enters the operating room, no one knows how he will come out. 325 00:17:04.723 --> 00:17:06.859 Will he keep his leg? 326 00:17:06.859 --> 00:17:10.629 Will he even survive? 327 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:17.136 It began as another Saturday of spearfishing 328 00:17:17.136 --> 00:17:20.339 for a group of young friends from Longboat Key, Florida. 329 00:17:21.373 --> 00:17:22.441 Now, C.J. 330 00:17:22.441 --> 00:17:27.012 Wickersham is fighting for his life after an attack by a ten foot bull shark. 331 00:17:27.913 --> 00:17:30.582 It's the least expected kind of shark attack, 332 00:17:30.582 --> 00:17:33.852 an unprovoked ambush, the raw feeding behavior. 333 00:17:34.853 --> 00:17:37.756 These waters have seen only five such attacks 334 00:17:37.923 --> 00:17:41.460 since records started being kept in 1882. 335 00:17:42.261 --> 00:17:46.331 CJ's is number six. 336 00:17:48.233 --> 00:17:50.636 The courageous friends who rushed him to shore 337 00:17:50.869 --> 00:17:53.972 prayed for CJ's survival. 338 00:17:53.972 --> 00:17:57.709 Fate is on CJ's side, though, in the form of a surgeon 339 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:00.212 who has faced the worst kinds of trauma. 340 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:03.415 We were lucky to have the surgeon, 341 00:18:03.415 --> 00:18:06.452 Jeffrey Johnson, who had just come back from Afghanistan and Iraq. 342 00:18:06.452 --> 00:18:08.821 I think he served a couple of tours over there. 343 00:18:09.121 --> 00:18:12.224 He was definitely qualified because he saw a lot worse things 344 00:18:12.224 --> 00:18:13.759 in Afghanistan and Iraq. 345 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:16.695 And CJ's accident apparently didn't faze him. Too bad. 346 00:18:18.030 --> 00:18:18.497 It takes 347 00:18:18.497 --> 00:18:22.367 an hour and a half and over 800 stitches for Dr. 348 00:18:22.367 --> 00:18:26.738 Johnson and his team to clean and stabilize CJ's wound. 349 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:28.807 When he came out. 350 00:18:28.807 --> 00:18:32.244 All his friends, my brother, his sisters, Conner. 351 00:18:32.244 --> 00:18:34.780 And all them Jamie, his mother, all his friends. 352 00:18:34.780 --> 00:18:36.949 They're on the boat. We're in a waiting room. 353 00:18:36.949 --> 00:18:40.886 And a doctor came out and said that he lost a lot of blood 354 00:18:40.886 --> 00:18:43.322 and that he probably would lose a lot of tissue 355 00:18:43.689 --> 00:18:46.158 and that he probably had 4 to 5 surgeries. 356 00:18:47.326 --> 00:18:51.363 C.J. has made it this far because his friends banded together 357 00:18:51.530 --> 00:18:54.466 to keep him from bleeding out and to get him rescued. 358 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.836 Their efforts have saved CJ's life. 359 00:18:59.004 --> 00:19:01.173 Everybody who was on the boat the next day, I went down there 360 00:19:01.173 --> 00:19:02.875 to see C.J.. 361 00:19:02.941 --> 00:19:05.277 It was an amazing feeling to actually be able to see him again. 362 00:19:05.911 --> 00:19:06.945 It was like Christmas morning. 363 00:19:08.046 --> 00:19:11.383 C.J. has to be given enormous amounts of antibiotics 364 00:19:11.650 --> 00:19:14.753 to stave off possible life threatening infection. 365 00:19:15.854 --> 00:19:18.390 A lot of times when he a bit 366 00:19:18.390 --> 00:19:22.694 say a lot of bacteria in the saltwater and that's really dirty 367 00:19:22.694 --> 00:19:25.831 and the shark's mouth is really dirty at all, like their mouth. 368 00:19:26.532 --> 00:19:29.601 And a lot of times you'd think you would get infected. 369 00:19:30.602 --> 00:19:35.340 The recuperation is long and grueling, but amazingly, C.J. 370 00:19:35.340 --> 00:19:37.809 makes a full recovery. 371 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:41.580 Now CJ's back to doing what he loves, including spearfishing, 372 00:19:41.947 --> 00:19:44.850 though not every Saturday. 373 00:19:44.850 --> 00:19:47.119 I'm lucky the Sharpton shake his head. 374 00:19:47.219 --> 00:19:47.686 Of course I do. 375 00:19:47.686 --> 00:19:52.291 A lot of times when they buy stuff they see on TV, a bite in and shake 376 00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:55.093 it at fast enough. 377 00:19:55.093 --> 00:19:58.830 When it did, or if it just didn't like it, or what it tasted like for a baby 378 00:19:59.364 --> 00:20:04.670 that it let go and didn't shake or turning my knee just kind of ripped it open. 379 00:20:06.004 --> 00:20:08.106 Conner and CJ's friends 380 00:20:08.106 --> 00:20:11.276 will forever hold a special place with the Wickersham family. 381 00:20:12.611 --> 00:20:14.279 Yeah, Conner definitely saved my life. 382 00:20:14.279 --> 00:20:17.583 All my friends and family, Max Kirsh and Katie, 383 00:20:18.016 --> 00:20:21.653 all what they did, like Chemical Family Care called nine on one. 384 00:20:21.653 --> 00:20:24.022 And Max drove the boat and stuff. 385 00:20:24.022 --> 00:20:26.124 So, I mean, they are definitely saving my life. 386 00:20:27.326 --> 00:20:30.429 For Conner, different means a lot that he would jump in the water 387 00:20:30.429 --> 00:20:33.265 at first got bit by a play about ten for bull shark. 388 00:20:33.665 --> 00:20:37.135 There was blood all over the place and he jumped in without even thinking 389 00:20:37.636 --> 00:20:39.404 and just grabbed me. 390 00:20:39.404 --> 00:20:42.774 And then, I mean, it's like he's pretty much like my brother. 391 00:20:43.675 --> 00:20:47.446 He would do that and risk his life to save my kid. 392 00:20:47.446 --> 00:20:48.247 Get me out of the water. 393 00:20:49.381 --> 00:20:51.183 Conner definitely a hero. 394 00:20:51.183 --> 00:20:53.552 Not Conner. I wouldn't have a son today. 395 00:20:53.552 --> 00:20:54.853 Yeah, I really. 396 00:20:54.853 --> 00:20:56.355 I love him a lot. 397 00:20:56.655 --> 00:21:01.293 Life at Longboat Key goes on now, and it's still a paradise made. 398 00:21:01.293 --> 00:21:03.829 Even more so by the realization 399 00:21:04.363 --> 00:21:06.465 of how precious life can be. 400 00:21:07.833 --> 00:21:09.301 After seeing something like that. 401 00:21:09.301 --> 00:21:11.837 I definitely have more respect for the water 402 00:21:11.870 --> 00:21:14.273 and it's just anything can happen in a split second 403 00:21:14.273 --> 00:21:15.374 because there's a perfect day 404 00:21:15.374 --> 00:21:18.777 and within a split second it turned into a horror story. 405 00:21:20.078 --> 00:21:21.780 So I get to spear fish and do stuff 406 00:21:21.780 --> 00:21:25.884 I love with my family and fish and dove and hunt. 407 00:21:25.884 --> 00:21:27.352 And there is a 408 00:21:27.886 --> 00:21:30.088 yes I definitely love every day. 409 00:21:30.088 --> 00:21:46.638 I don't take it for granted that I'm here.