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Louise Thomas
Editor
A 23-year-old Australian surfer who survived having his leg bitten off by a suspected great white shark has vowed to be back in the water “in no time”.
Kai McKenzie was attacked off the mid-north coast of New South Wales last week, and his severed leg later washed up on the beach. The limb was placed on ice and taken to a hospital about 200km away from the place where the attack took place, with the hope that it could be reattached.
It’s not clear if doctors attempted surgery to reattach the leg, but an Instagram post by Mr McKenzie on Monday confirmed that he had lost the limb.
“Spot something missing? Hahah,” Mr McKenzie quipped in a caption alongside an image showing him standing arm-in-arm with a group of friends.
Mr McKenzie was taken to Port Macquarie Base Hospital and later flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle after last Tuesday’s attack. He was riding the waves off the shore of New South Wales when a 10ft shark attacked and nearly killed him.
After fighting off the shark, he was able to paddle himself to the shore, with severe blood loss and a chunk bitten out of his surfboard.
He was aided by a passerby, a retired police officer who used a dog leash as a makeshift tourniquet to save the 23-year-old’s life.
In an earlier post on Instagram on Saturday he detailed the incident and thanked people for the support he received.
“To be here right now just to f****** be able to hold my beautiful Eve and my family is everything to me,” he wrote.
“A few days ago I went through a crazy shark attack, biggest shark I’ve ever seen, which was a very crazy scene and scared the living f*** out of me.
“But to all you f****** kind-hearted people, all you legends, to anyone and everyone all your support has meant the absolute world to me.
“It’s so cool to see so many beautiful people support me.”
Mr McKenzie, a sponsored athlete, vowed that he will be back in the water “in no time”.
“I can tell you now if you know my personality this means f*** all.
“I’ll be back in that water in no time, big f*** off to that shark and big thanks to Steve for saving my life.”
In a statement on Thursday, the McKenzie family also thanked all of the “medical staff ... bystanders and first responders” who had worked to save the surfer’s life.
An online fundraiser has raised more than $160,000 (£81,432) to support Mr McKenzie’s rehabilitation and recovery as of Monday morning.
Australia sees more shark attacks than any other country except the US, but fatal incidents remain very rare. Of the 10 fatal attacks globally in 2023, four occurred in Australia – three in South Australia and one in Western Australia.
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