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04/20/2007 Chad Guthrie (Florida)

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:36 am
by sharkbait
Shark bites former Titusville resident

BY AUTUMN PHELPS

Shark bite. Chad Guthrie, 24, spent five hours in surgery at Halifax Hospital in Daytona on Friday night after a shark bite.

One of the last things a recently graduated medical doctor would want is to suffer a shark bite to the hand.

Unfortunately for Chad Guthrie, 24, that’s exactly what happened Friday night while surfing in New Smyrna Beach.

The former Astronaut High School student, now a doctor of physical therapy practicing in New Smyrna Beach, spent five hours in surgery at Halifax Hospital in Daytona on Friday night. According to his grandmother, Ellen Baker of Titusville, the shark “ripped open his left hand and incurred serious injury to the thumb and first two fingers,” she wrote in an email.

Guthrie is scheduled to undergo another surgery Sunday morning. His mother, Rachel Greene of Titusville, spent Saturday morning at the hospital with her son.

“We don’t know the extent of the damage yet,” Greene said by phone. “Hopefully with rehabilitation he will make a full recovery.”

Greene said her son, a longtime surfer, described the shark that bit him as a 4- to 5-foot bull shark. A woman on the beach witnessed the attack and helped Guthrie stop the bleeding.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Baker said.

Greene said despite the attack, her son is in good spirits, and plans to get back out on his board once his hand is healed.


http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 21012/1086

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:43 pm
by sharkbait
Shark Bite Victim Plans To Surf Again

POSTED: 11:23 am EDT April 24, 2007
UPDATED: 11:41 am EDT April 24, 2007


NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- After being bitten by a shark, a man is hoping to surf again.

Chad Guthrie, 24, was bit in the hand by shark while surfing at New Smyrna Beach Friday, WESH 2 News reported.

Guthrie said he's optimistic that he'll get back to work as a physical therapist and surf again.


"It's not the first thing that you think happens to you. 'Oh, I just got bit by a shark.' It took a second to sink in," he said.

But after one look at his mangled left hand, and Guthrie said he realized he had just had an all too-close encounter at his favorite surf spot near the 27th Avenue New Smyrna Beach approach.

According to Guthrie, before the pain could set in, common sense did.

"You go into survival mode. You get that adrenaline pumping. I've never paddled so fast in my life," he said.

Guthrie said that the surf was rough Friday and he had just passed the first break and quickly found out he wasn't alone.

"I went to paddle with my left hand, then I felt a lot of pressure on my hand and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I just see the shark come up out of the water with my hand in his mouth," he said.

The shark tore tendons and nerves in his thumb and first two fingers, but with surgery and his own physical therapist colleagues helping, Guthrie said he is confident of recovery.

"I got a bunch of good people that I work with that are going to make sure I'm back to where I need to be," he said.

Guthrie said he will surf again because it's his passion. He said he figures the odds are far greater he'll win the lottery than get bitten by another shark.

Guthrie said he has at least one more surgery ahead of him, in which doctors will try to do some tendon grafting on his thumb.

http://www.wesh.com/news/13001759/detail.html

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:38 am
by sharkbait
Shark Bites Man's Hand

POSTED: 8:33 pm EDT April 20, 2007
UPDATED: 8:46 pm EDT April 20, 2007

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- A surfer was bit by a shark at New Smyrna Beach Friday.

The 24-year-old man was bit on the hand near 3700 South Atlantic Ave. in Volusia County, WESH 2 News reported.

According to police, the man suffered a 4-inch gash on his left hand in between his thumb and index finger and is expected to be OK.


It is the second shark bite of the 2007 season. A 7-year-old boy received 60 stitches after being the first shark bite victim of the season a couple weeks ago, officials said.

The surfer was rushed to Halifax Hospital so a hand surgeon could stitch up his injury, police said.

Police said they are hoping this season isn’t as eventful as last year's, which had more than a dozen shark bite injuries.


http://www.wesh.com/news/12655532/detail.html