Lifeguard recounts terrifying shark bite

A Kauai lifeguard recounted the terrifying moment when a shark severed his leg while he was surfing at Hanalei Bay. (KITV via CNN Newsource)

KAUAI, Hawaii -- Chance Swanson recounts the overwhelming fear the moment he encountered a shark while surfing at Hanalei Bay.

“Next thing you know, something’s just chomping down on my leg with so much force I can’t see it. I couldn’t see where it was coming from, but I just knew as a shark,” Swanson said. “Yeah, it was terrifying.”

And then somehow it let go.

“I lifted my leg up and I just like said, ‘Oh no,’ and I said my prayers to Jesus Christ. I believe in God and He saved me and then He put the right people in place.”

Kauai’s ocean safety team raced to pull their fellow lifeguard out of the water and stop the bleeding.

“I was losing my vision. I was really weak I tried to tie my own tourniquet. I couldn’t do it. I was so weak,” Swanson said. “‘Keep your eyes open. Keep your eyes open. We got you. You’re gonna make it.’”

The shark severed major blood vessels, arteries and tendons, requiring multiple surgeries to reconstruct his left leg, but he is expected to have a full recovery.

“And so without somebody intervening, without people putting the tourniquet on and repairing it, he would have died from this,” said. Dr. Dylan Davey, his trauma surgeon.

Chance and his family—calling it a miracle—are grateful for his story of survival through faith and aloha.

“This is super surreal. Never thought in my life I’d get bit by a shark, always told the chances were pretty slim,” Swanson said. “I’m just so thankful.”