It all happened while Delia Yriarte was adventure-snorkeling in the majestic Galapagos Islands, one of the world's most foremost destinations for wildlife viewing.
A once-in-a-lifetime dream vacation turned into a nightmare for one California woman after she suffered a horrific attack.
It all happened while Delia Yriarte was adventure-snorkeling in the majestic Galapagos Islands, one of the world's foremost destinations for wildlife viewing.
The getaway quickly took a devastating turn for the emergency room nurse when she was attacked by a shark.
It took five people to pull her to safety in a dinghy, and Yriarte credits her work in the emergency room with helping her keep her cool as she was taken to a pickup truck and then driven to the nearest medical facility.
In the end, she received 100 sutures in her right leg.
In an interview from her hospital bed in Ecuador, Yriarte tells Inside Edition that she did not even realize she had been bitten at first.
"I turned and then I saw blood," she says, later noting that she is "very lucky" to have gotten safely out of the water.
Yriarte is still not in the clear however, and the young mother still needs more surgery before she can safely travel home to San Jose and her 15-year-old daughter.
Friends have now started a GoFundMe to help here with the bills and hopefully get her back home soon.
