OCRACOKE ISLAND,N.C. -- North Carolina averages only two shark attacks a year, but this year, sharks have injured two people there in just the past month.
The most recent victim, 6-year-old Lucy Mangum, is getting ready to leave the hospital after her terrifying ordeal that began in the early evening hours last Tuesday.
The Mangum family was enjoying their summer vacation on Ocracoke Island - a popular vacation spot along North Carolina s Outer Banks - when Lucy was riding a boogey board in a foot-and-a-half of water near her parents and younger sister.
Then, as a wave broke onto shore, Lucy was attacked by, what bystanders say was a black-finned shark. Its razor-sharp teeth ripped into her calf and foot. Bleeding and in serious pain, Lucy was airlifted to a trauma center in Greenville, N.C., nearly two hours away.
She had significant lacerations to her calf, her ankle and her foot and injury to one of the major vessels that brings blood supply to the foot and the leg, said Dr. Richard Zeri, chief of plastic surgery at East Carolina School of Medicine.
So far in 2011, 13 shark attacks have been reported in the United States - none of them fatal.
Lucy is on the mend. She recently told her parents, I hate sharks. I like dolphins way better.
On The Early Show, Tuesday, the Mangum family shared the story of their ordeal.
Jordan Mangum, Lucy s mother, said she knew everything was going to be OK after the bite because her daughter was talking to her and asking her questions.
She said, Am I going to die? Jordan Mangum recalled. I said, Absolutely not. You re going to be just fine.
Once we made our way up onto the beach after, Lucy asked if they could say a prayer.
So she was pretty stoic through the whole thing, Jordan Mangum said.
Craig Mangum, an emergency room physician, said as soon as he saw the extent of her wound, she knew she would need more help.
I realized this thing was way too large and it would have to go to a level-one trauma center. I immediately kicked into I was father first but realized this is a pretty significant injury, he said.
But Mangum said he knew his daughter was in good hands at a hospital five hours away from their vacation spot.
I think my background helped there, he said. I had worked in the past with Pitt County Memorial Hospital. I knew they would take care of her when she landed there. I was at ease.
Doctors say it will take up to two months for Lucy's wounds to heal.
Last month, 10-year-old Cassidy Cartwright was bitten by a shark on another North Carolina beach.
Carolyn Cartwright, the child s mother, said, When we pulled out of the water, her leg was just wide open. It was just a lot of blood.
Coincidentally, a YouTube video -- taken just two weeks ago on the same island where Lucy Mangum was attacked shows what s believed to be a black-tipped reef shark being reeled to shore.
But even though sharks and humans often share the same waters, experts say most attacks are a case of mistaken identity.
Andy Dehart, director of biological programs at the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., said, Sharks do really know, for the most part, what their prey is. They re not out to hunt humans and very rarely do they make mistakes.
