In 2024, what was thought to be a perfect mother-daughter beach trip to Florida with her twin sister turned out to be a journey through recovery. While taking a swim in waist-deep water, 15-year-old Lulu Gribben noticed a shadow, which witnesses described as a bull shark, swimming near her. In a panic, she attempted to swim back to shore, when the shark attacked her.
“I started swimming as fast as I could and then, like, in the movies they’re like, ‘Oh, you can’t be, like, frantic or else they’re gonna come after you.’ So I just stopped swimming. And I told everyone to just calm down…and the next thing I know is that I raised my hand out of the water and there just was no hand there.”
Doctors managed to save Lulu’s life; however, she lost her left hand and, after multiple surgeries, her right leg was amputated between the knee and hip.
Lulu spent months in OrthoCarolina’s Limb Recovery Center, undergoing multiple surgeries. One surgery included the muscle reinnervation, a surgery that reassigns the nerve endings to help control a future prosthetic and reduce pain.
After the loss of her left hand and right leg, Lulu joined virtual therapy, which is designed to ease phantom limb pain. Dr. Glenn Gaston states, “What we’ve done is taken a lot of the science behind phantom limb pain and worked to package that into a headset that’s super immersive, and it makes the patients see their hands again, and walks them through opening and closing their hand again.”
Since returning to Alabama, Lulu was determined not to let her injuries define her. Lulu had started playing golf. When playing golf, Lulu would switch out her prosthetic hand for a golf attachment. Lulu is also relearning how to slalom water ski and has recently begun running track to compete in the Paralympics.
As of now, Lulu’s advocating for a “Lulu’s Law” to channel her experience to help others. The “Lulu’s Law” is a federal alert system that would notify beachgoers if a shark attack happened nearby. She is also making a “Lulu Strong Foundation” to support amputees and expand access to virtual reality for easing phantom pain.
