Steve Bruemmer thanked good Samaritans and first responders in his first interview since getting bitten by a great white shark at Lovers Point Beach near Monterey, California, last month.
Bruemmer, 62, was released from Natividad Medical Rehab Center Wednesday, to a round of applause from staff. The hospital shared a video in which Bruemmer details the June 22 shark attack.
After swimming out and looking at sea grasses and sea stars, Bruemmer says he was about 150 yards from the beach when wham!
I don’t even know exactly what happened, he says. It turns out I was bit ferociously by a shark right across my thighs and my abdomen, and it grabbed me and pulled me up and then dove me down in the water.
Then it just spit him out. Bruemmer says the shark looked at him, and he thought it could bite again, so he pushed it and kicked it. The shark left, and he started yelling for help.
Two paddle-boarders, one a nurse and one a police officer, came over to assist, while a surfer on the beach brought out an extra surfboard to help carry Bruemmer to shore.
Two days after a two-hour operation that required 28 units of blood, doctors repaired Bruemmer’s thighs so that he might walk again.
Bruemmer got emotional thanking everyone who had a hand in his survival and recovery. Without all of you, I don’t make it, he said. I’m going home, I’m gonna recover, I’m gonna be OK. Thanks to y’all.
