Take note, surfers: Always punch the shark in the gills.
That’s just one of the hard-earned life lessons shared by Mike Morita, the surfer attacked by a tiger shark while riding waves in Honolulu on Sunday.
This week, the 58-year-old spoke to Good Morning America from his hospital bed after losing his right foot to the shark. Witnesses said it was likely seven feet long.
“I was lying on my board, and then the shark grabbed onto my leg,” Morita said in the interview. “And I could just feel the strength and power of it.”
But Morita has been surfing for four decades, and his surfing experience told him to fight back.
“The shark pulled me under twice,” Morita said. “There was a point when the tail came by me, and because the punching didn’t work, I kind of under-hooked the shark’s body with my leg and my arm. At that time, when I hit the gills, the shark let go.”
But the ordeal wasn’t over. If it wasn’t for the quick actions of Morita’s friends, medical personnel said he would likely have died from blood loss, ABC News reported.
“I could look at my leg and I saw how bad it was. So I told my friends, I said, ‘Hey you gotta tie a tourniquet on me,'” Morita recalled. “Thank God for my friends, who saved my life.”
Despite losing a foot, Morita sounded remarkably optimistic and even grateful in the interview. However, the hospital bills continue to mount, and Morita’s son and daughter have created a GoFundMe campaign to help offset the costs.
As of this writing, the GoFundMe had more than $75,000 of the $100,000 goal.
“He is currently in the hospital and is awaiting a second surgery to be done later this week,” the GoFundMe page says. “His spirits are high and he has accepted his injury. He is embracing the challenges that he will face ahead and with God, his family, and his friends by his side he will remain positive and get through this.”
