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11/13/2009 Melissa Hardcastle ( Florida )

Listing of the Shark Attack Related Incidents occurring in 2009. 2009 Shark Attacks
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sharkbait
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Re: 11/13/2009 Melissa Hardcastle ( Florida )

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Shark bite survivor tells story


November 15, 2009 8:39 PM
Peter Schaller

This all happened at a popular local beach. The surfer says she won't be back out in the water, the sport she loves just isn't worth it anymore. Tonight the 27-year-old is bandaged up, she just got out of surgery. She says she's lucky to be alive. Melissa Hardcastle is always out in the water, surfing all by herself, but on this trip she had unwanted company in the water. She has been surfing for 2 and half years, and this was her worst nightmare.



She said, "My whole foot was in its mouth."



Melissa was surfing Friday night here, just south of Carlin Park in Jupiter when the shark chomped on her foot. It quickly let go. She didn't see the shark that got her, she just knows how it felt.



She said, "The pressure of the jaws, it was insane."



Adrenaline kicked in, in her head Melissa was telling herself to stay calm. She was petrified, she knew she had to take one thing at a time if she wanted to save her foot.



"Get on my board, limbs in, and now I got to make it back to shore," she said.



The four minute swim back, felt like an eternity.



She said, "I kept looking back and my foot was still attached, so I was all right."



When she got back to the beach two tourists helped her, wrapping up her mangled foot with a blanket. They called 911. She spent Friday night at Jupiter Medical Center, got stitches Saturday morning. Now she's on cruches now, doctors say the shark left 26 puncture wounds here on her left foot.



She said, "This was the top jaw, this was the bottom jaw and there were 3 scrapes where the teeth dragged."



Melissa thinks it was a spinner shark. Sky 12 was out flying our coast earlier this year. Spinner sharks, all over the place along local beaches. Experts say it's that time of year again, several shark species, migrating to the south Florida coastline. Lifeguards say most will stay about 100 yards off shore, but if you spot one head the other way. For Melissa, she didn't see it coming. However when she grabbed her board that day to head out she had bad vibes.



"I had an uneasy feeling about being out there anyway," she said.



Melissa says it's going to be months before she's all healed. She says, for now she can't dream of getting back out into the water.



http://www.cbs12.com/news/shark-4722554 ... story.html
sharkbait
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Re: 11/13/2009 Melissa Hardcastle ( Florida )

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Surfer Bitten by Shark


November 13, 2009 11:30 PM
Al Pefley

A day at the beach cut short by sharp teeth.

A shark takes a bite out of a surfer's foot.

The victim is a 27 year old woman from Palm Beach Gardens.

She was surfing in Jupiter late Friday afternoon when a shark clamped down on her foot.

The victim is listed in good condition at Jupiter Medical Center.

Her mother says her daughter will be okay.

She's been surfing for years, but this is the first time she's ever had such a close encounter with a shark.

For Melissa Hardcastle of Palm Beach Gardens, surfing is her passion.

She just cant seem to get enough of it.

But a fun-filled afternoon at the beach turned into chaos for the 27 year old woman, when she was attacked by a shark while surfing near Carlin Park in Jupiter.

Her mother spoke with us outside the emergency room..

"She was just riding a wave in and a shark bit her foot, just like somebody clamping something on her foot and she knew instantly that she got bit," said Pat Hardcastle, Melissa's mother.

She stayed on her surfboard and paddled to shore, according to another relative who talked with Melissa at the hospital.

Once she made it to shore, lifeguards took her to the Jupiter Reef Club, and she was then rushed to the hospital by paramedics.

Her mother got quite a scare, when Melissa called from the hospital Friday evening to tell her she had just been bitten by a shark. "Oh my God! Yeah, really. She says I have my foot. I'm fine," Hardcastle said.

The incident happened about 5pm Friday and according to her mother, Melissa was surfing alone. She never saw the shark, doesn't know what kind it was or how big it was, but she certainly felt it when it clamped down on her left foot.

"She's got some marks, she's lucky to have her foot, but she's good, very good," Hardcastle said.

Whether she'll go back into the water again and keep surfing, her mom is not sure. She says she'll leave that decision up to Melissa once she gets out of the hospital.

She just feels her daughter is really lucky that her injuries are not worse.

"Very lucky. Somebody up there was really looking out for her," Hardcastle told us.

Melissa Hardcastle, a graduate of Palm Beach Gardens High, is single and has no children.

She works at a local day spa.

Her mother says she'll be kept in the hospital overnight, and she'll have surgery Saturday morning to clean out the wound from the shark bite.

She believes with a little luck, her daughter will be released from the hospital following surgery on Saturday.


http://www.cbs12.com/news/shark-4722536 ... lissa.html
sharkbait
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11/13/2009 Melissa Hardcastle ( Florida )

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Shark bites surfer Woman bitten by shark on Jupiter beach ---


Shark bite victim recovering at hospital


Reported by: Carolyn Scofield
Email: cscofield@wptv.com
Photographer: Cody Jackson
Last Update: 7:31 am

Shark bites surfer
Woman bitten by shark on Jupiter beach
Melissa Hardcastle gitten by shark at Jupiter Florida USA
Melissa Hardcastle gitten by shark at Jupiter Florida USA
melissa_hardcastle.jpg (7.96 KiB) Viewed 18934 times
JUPITER, FL -Pat Hardcastle worried when her daughter drove up to New Smyrna Beach to surf.

"The shark heaven," says Hardcastle. "She used to go up there all the time."

But it was in the water behind the Jupiter Reef Club where Melissa Hardcastle had her first shark encounter.

The 27-year old was surfing Friday afternoon when something chomped down on her foot.

Her mother says she never saw the shark but knew what it was immediately.

"She's got some marks. She's lucky to have her foot, but she's good, very good," says Hardcastle.

Melissa never saw the shark, only felt it. Her mother says she grabbed the board and rode the waves to shore.

Lifeguards treated her there until paramedics could transport her to the emergency room.

Melissa was expected to stay overnight at Jupiter Medical Center. She'll undergo surgery Saturday morning.

Her mother says doctors need to clean out any bacteria and sand in the wounds.

Pat expects her daughter will be back in the water one day. She loves surfing too much to be scared off by a shark.

http://www.wptv.com/content/news/northp ... BtaRQ.cspx
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