Shark Attack Survivors Meet
Out of adversity comes greatness.
If ever there was someone who embodied that phrase, it’d be Hunter Treschl.
The 16 year old, soon-to-be high school junior, just returned home after being attacked by a shark off the North Carolina coast.
“I’m really feeling good. It’s great to be home,” Treschl smiles.
Treschl is one of the rare victims to survive an attack — but even more rare: his optimism.
Just days after the attack, from his hospital room, Treschl said this —
“I lost my arm, obviously. I have two options: I can choose to live my life the way I was, and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm, or I can just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it, in a way. Out of those two, there’s really only one that I would choose — that is to try and fight and live.”
It’s jaw-dropping coming from anyone, in light of a life-changing event. Even more so, coming from someone who’s not been legally driving for a year.
Hunter’s outlook has impressed those across the globe, including fellow shark attack survivor, Paul de Gelder, who was attacked while an Australian Navy Clearance Diver. He lost his arm and leg in the attack.
Not what you’d expect minutes after meeting, the two amputees play a friendly game of frisbee.
Both Treschl and de Gelder lost their dominant hands and have had to adjust to using the other.
“For instance, I was trying to scoop ice cream the other night. That’s really difficult with one arm. So, I had the tub against the wall. So, it’s a big process for everything,” says Treschl.
Eventually, Treschl is hoping to raise enough money for him to get a prosthetic hand. A former teacher of his spearheaded a GoFundMe page in his name to reach that goal.
Treschl and de Gelder exchange “war stories” — like, tingling sensations in the amputated limbs, and the absence of pain during the attacks.
“I tried to punch it in the head. And all the stuff you think about,” says de Gelder.
“None of this was going through my head, like, there was a shark and no shark and I was on the beach. That’s all I remember. Like, never thought, ‘I’m going to jab him in the eye. Never something I thought about,'” laughs Treschl.
For de Gelder, he’s learned the importance of acceptance — and laughter.
“It’s so nice to get a second chance. I think that’s why my recovery went so well — being able to laugh at this stuff,” says de Gelder. “From the worst thing that has ever happened to me, the thing that nearly killed me, is the thing that has come the greatest opportunities, that I never felt possible.”
Take it from two people who would have every excuse to let circumstances rule their lives: out of adversity comes greatness.
