Sharkbite Photos *edited- new photos*
OK, here are the gory photos, as promised. Some of them are a little icky, so consider yourself warned…
Madi’s leg propped up in the car on the way to the hospital after the Beach Patrol ‘field dressed’ it.
In the emergency room–this is the one that still completely freaks me out.
As you can see, there is a chunk missing. *gag reflex*
Madi patiently waiting– and text-messaging friends the entire time!
This one is a little gross– preparing to get sutured.
Getting stitched up– this took a long time, and Madi hid under the covers.
All stitched up!
A little hard to make them out, but here are the teeth marks on the bottom of her foot–apparently this is where the bottom jaw bit while the top teeth made the larger wound. On her heel you can barely see half of the perfect semi-circular puncture wounds.
Here’s a better one:
One of the hospital staff brought this picture of a sand shark to Madi– Beauty and the Beast!
Finally all bandaged up and finally ready to go home with her crutches, a mere five hours later.
And that’s what WE did on our summer vacation!
OK, after reviewing my photos, just had to add these two so that you can witness the true resilience of a Teenage Girl! The first one is in the car ON THE WAY to the emergency room, and the second one is right after the stitches. Lordy.
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I think I see that she had toe nail polish on! That’s another thing to be happy for! I hate it when I get caught out with my toenails not done! You rock, Madi!!!
I would have passed out, for real, Momma Taff! I’ve done it before…..in every hospital in Genesee County. You rock too! And Russ for staying calm and not jumping in the water and beating that shark to death! And Char for her expertise on sea life! What a vacation! What a family!!!
Oh my gosh! I take one day off from reading blogs and look what happens!
Wow. Way to go on not passing out, and mucho kudos to Madi for being so on top of it – i am so impressed. My favorite part of the story is where Madi points out that Char watched too much Animal Planet. That was equal parts awesome (for char being such a genius) and hilarious!
You Taffs are downright amazing. So glad to know everything is ok!
Oh my gosh Tori! I just read your account of this mishap and then came on to this. It literally scared me to death and made me cringe just reading and thinking about it. Go Madi is all I can say and you are an AWESOME mom to stay in there and endure that without throwing up or passing out. PHEW! I know what it is like to have a wound cleaned – not by a shark, but by a dog. And it isn’t fun to watch or endure. My heart goes out to Madi. And no, I don’t think you all are insane by getting all the shark items LOL. Sounds exactly like something my uncle would do for me.
I’ll be praying hard for Madi’s recovery. Hang in there honey! You are one brave young lady.
My stomach turned over looking at those pictures. How big do you think that shark’s mouth was, for goodness sake? It reached from her toes all the way up onto her leg…..had it gone in from another position…..I feel sick! Bless her heart, she is such a trouper….how cute, texting in her hospital bed. Talk about making vacation memories!
This Taff family is surely an interesting and blessed family!! God Bless you all and what a trooper Miss Madi is…. My Lord – here I am – limping around in a soft cast because I took a fall and nearly broke my foot – and being quite the baby about the discomfort and pain- I might add… and Madi what a trooper you are…. I would still be in the hospital from the shock “days after” – if I would have gotten bit by a shark!! What a brave, brave young lady… God gave her the strength so Mom and Dad didn’t lose it….. May God touch and bring healing to your little girl’s injury as quickly as possible… and a praise to Him for not allowing anything worse to have happened to Madi… God surely shed his blessing on the Taff family this time!! Thanks be to Him!!
Oh my Gosh! I’m so glad she’s Okay! How scary. I can’t imagine what was going through your head as you were headed to the beach.
Prayers are headed your way for Madi’s speedy recovery
Wendy
So–any cute guys in the ER to benefit from all this primping and posing? Any hunks on the Beach Patrol? Seems a shame to waste it.
Gee, Alyson, that’s what I was thinking—–but I didn’t want to be perchieved as unspiritual! Were the “beach patrol” anything like the hunks on Bay Watch—–especially the ones that “carried” her to the car?
I personally liked the “blanket over the head while the stitching was going on” picture!!! I’m gonna try that at my next yearly pa……., oh, you know!
Madi Rocks! I love the last two picture; the one of her putting her makeup on, is that her cell phone in her hand? Then the one sitting there on the bed posing for another picture and looking like nothing every happened. She is one brave young lady. Praying for a speedy recovery for her!
Well…beauty is God-given,right? So looking at hunky guys is just appreciating some of God’s creation,right?
(I’m struggling here.)
Madi shows us an important lesson here. With the last two pictures, she shows us how to be in charge, when you can’t control all that is going on in your life. She focused on what she could control. Important lesson for us all.
I love the last one; strike a pose Madi! You are so right themema; she definitely shows us how to be in charge. The first one reminds me of my mom – she’d be doing the same thing headed for the ER. Trust me – she cannot go out without putting on that lipstick! LOL
:o) I just now got a look at the last two pics ( I guess the paramedic in me just stuck to the gory ones at first LOL)
I love it. I would have been the same way- Putting on makeup on the way to the hospital :o)
Heal quickly, Madi!
This was the response from my world class 54 year old surfer boy.
Hmm..I have had a few close encounters including punching a board under a big set in Hawaii and banging into a tiger shark swimming in the wave..a tad unnerving! I am glad she is okay and I hope they keep the humor up and get her back in the water as the statistical possibility of her being bitten again is RARE!!! R
OMG as they say here in blogland! For real, I take a week off from reading and THIS happens. WOW! Glad to hear Madi is okay; what a very blessed girl she is.
BTW, no one will be able to compete with her “What I did over summer vacation” essay this fall…
Tori, I LOVE the sick rubber shark humor! You make me so proud.
Well, the statistics may say there is only a very rare possibility that Madi will ever get bit again, but as a mother, I subscribe to the Peter Pan theory (remember the crocodile who had a bite of Captain Hook and spent the remainder of his life seeking a second helping?). I’d never let that girl of mine anywhere near the ocean again…….and I’d be vigilant when visiting Sea World too! But I know Madi is going to jump back in ’cause she’s braver than I am.
And I agree teegees, you gotta admire that kind of sick rubber shark humor in the face of near disaster!!! Those Taff’s rock!
Hope Madi is recovering nicely! What a vacation!
How Weird We have just found out about this! We arrived the same day y’all did & rode the elevator up with Russ. I reconized Russ spoke to him with my Husband & son. We had told Friends & Family who all watch the Gaithers that we had rode the elevator up with Russ Taff. And knew we didn’t see y’all any the rest of the week & so now we see why! Wow a Shark Bite at Cherry Grove my mom had bought the Homecoming Magazine with the article in it & read it to me tonight so now we know why! It was so strange to hear about a shark bite after having been there with our family & with our 8 yr old son wading in the water all week! You just really never know. We all love to Fish off the pier & we did catch several good size Sand Shark that week! We also watched several from our balcony & several stingrays! We did not hear about this the whole week we were there they kept it very quite & now 6 months later we hear this! We are glad to hear that Madi is doing Well! This confirms my reason for not getting into the water far myself I like to sit at the edge of the water! We have caught too many Sand Shark close to the Shore for me! That was our 1st trip to Cherry Grove & we loved the place & the pier being there! We loved the fact that y’all had the humor about the rubber shark that was funny! We were glad to hear she was going to be Ok! I meant to tell Russ that night in the elevator that I love his song Friends are Friends Forever! When I was a teen like Madi our youth group at church sang that song together. Stephanie from Tennessee!
Well, I’m not sure how much to throw out here. 1st off, I do believe it. Did believe even before seeing the photos. Read an article, in Time magazine I believe, some time ago about sharks & attacks. It mainly concentrated on a 7 or 8 yr old boy & his horrific attack. I basically stopped swimming in the ocean after seeing Jaws. Not a popular thing to do as a teen in California. Anyway, this article got me into searching the web to find out more about sharks & their attacking methodes, habits. Your daughter is very fortunate. I came across Russ’ web page & this info last nite. I got up around three in the morning, couldn’t get back to sleep so grabbed my new phone & started looking up Russ on You Tube. I’m a rock vocalist & to make a long story short Russ played a big part in influencing that based on some stuff I heard him do in the 70s & 80s as a kid. I was extremely blessed by some clips of his I experienced, then after a while was curious what Tori was looking like these days so googled Russ & came across all this. I haven’t seen a pic me Tori since the 80s. Anyway, got up around three in the morning again tonight & this time started catching up on some Bible reading & this was in the 2nd chapter I read: “For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will steady you with their hands to keep you from stumbling against the rocks on the trail. You can safely meet a lion or step on poisonous snakes, yes, even trample them beneath your feet!” I don’t subscribe to any bloggs, but after coming across that tonite, I thought I should register & share all this, FWIW. By the way, I think Russ & Tori are looking great & glad Russ got rid me the mustache. It never suited him, in my opinion = ) Oh, & this is being done text message style with my phone in honor of the shark bite survivor, so all paragraphs are run together as a result. Peace! jonny
Another thing, I may use this story the next time I have a speaking engagement. Doing what I can to try and get Christians to effectively love more. When faced with the fact that someone’s been bitten, had a small chunk taken out of them when one person or another’s had a “shark” moment, how do we deal with the victim once we’ve come across one?? I hope to use the small rubber shark as a possible solution = ) Peace! jonny