19-year-old student punches, fights off shark that bit her on vacation

DURANT, Okla. (KXII/Gray News) - A 19-year-old woman on vacation with her family in Texas fought off a bull shark with just her bare hands. She is still recovering from her injuries nearly a month later.

Damiana Humphrey, 19, goes on a family vacation yearly, but having visited Galveston Beach before in a more populated area didn’t prepare her for her encounter with a shark May 28, according to KXII.

Humphrey says about 45 minutes after splashing into the waves with her siblings, things took a drastic turn for the worse.

“All of a sudden, my sister-in-law saw something in the wave, and she was in the process of telling us to get out. As I was turning, that’s when the shark grabbed me,” she said.

Face-to-face with a 4-to-5-foot bull shark, Humphrey quickly realized it wouldn’t be an easy fight.

“At that point, it was already on my hand, and that’s when I started punching it. Then, it swam to the front of me. Its mouth was opening and closing, trying to get me,” she said.

Bull sharks are the third most common species known to bite humans. After already being punched once, the shark swam in front of Humphrey for a final tussle. This time, it left its mark.

“It came after me again, and that’s when we believe it clamped onto the top of my hand. That’s when I started punching it again, and then, it swam away for good,” the 19-year-old said.

Due to how quickly everything happened and her adrenaline, Humphrey didn’t know whether or not she still had fingers or a hand at all.

“I didn’t even feel pain. I just looked down, and there was a shark on my hand. I didn’t really have time to process that it was a shark until after it swam away,” she said.

Humprey’s tussle with the shark went unseen. Her siblings and other family members at the beach only saw water splashing. Unable to look down at the damage that was done, she sought help for her siblings first, instead of herself.

“I already fought off the shark once, so in my head, I was like, ‘OK, if it came down to it, I would definitely fight it again in order to keep my siblings safe,’” Humphrey said. “So, that’s my only thought process is getting my siblings to safety before I got myself to safety.”

Now, almost one month and a surgery later to repair four severed tendons from the shark’s bite, Humphrey is still unable to feel or move her left wrist, hand and fingers.

“After I see the physical therapist, then we’ll see what kind of movement I’m able to do,” she said.

Humphrey recalled the details of this family vacation turned close call with a sense of joy in her voice. She says it’s all because others who encounter sharks sometimes don’t retain all their limbs.

“I don’t have any feeling in my hand,” the 19-year-old said. “We don’t know if that’s gonna come back at all, which I’m totally OK with because I still have my hand. I know in some cases, people lose limbs and stuff, and I’m very grateful that I didn’t lose any of that and, more so, that my siblings weren’t affected by it.”

Humphrey is attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University for nursing school with an interest in helping kids in the oncology specialty. She hopes her physical therapy will start soon so that the healing process doesn’t affect her schedule in the fall.