A day at South Padre Island turned into a nightmare for Tabatha Sullivent, who was attacked by a shark as she waded in the water. Video footage captured the harrowing scene of her being pulled from the ocean with part of her leg missing, while the shark circled nearby.
Reflecting on the incident with NBC News, Sullivent, originally from Celina, described her shock at experiencing a shark attack. She was one of four individuals who encountered the same 6-foot-long shark on July 4.
“I just thought it was a big fish, so I went to kick it away. And at that point, that’s when it bit me. If I hadn’t pulled my legs up, it probably would’ve got my torso or something else,” she recounted.
Sullivent shared an update from her hospital bed on a GoFundMe page set up for her and her husband, Cary Sullivent, who also received bites but has since been discharged: “I lost my left calf. I have movement in my toes and circulation in my foot. I probably won’t have full mobility when I’m put back together and will not have the same leg I had before. But, I’m alive.”
Witness Kyle Jud, visiting from North Texas, recalled the tense moments when beach-goers rallied to assist Sullivent. “The whole time that was happening, the shark was just circling right there in the front,” he said, emphasizing the shark’s presence even as she was being rescued.
Despite the ordeal, Sullivent expressed gratitude for her husband’s heroic actions in fighting off the shark. “He fought off a shark for me. That’s pretty impressive,” she remarked.
Now facing a challenging road to recovery, Sullivent remains thankful for the support she has received and is focused on healing. The incident marked the first shark attacks in the area in five years, according to officials.
