"I just looked behind me and I saw this huge dark mass and I was like, 'what is that?' I just, I knew I wanted to get away from it. So I started swimming towards the shore and that's when he bit me between the legs." Elisabeth Foley tells Inside Edition.
A mother of three who lost her hand in a shark attack is opening up about her harrowing ordeal in an interview with Inside Edition.
Elisabeth Foley says that she, her husband, and their three teenage children were enjoying a relaxing vacation in Florida when they decided to go swimming at Watersound Beach.
"I just looked behind me and I saw this huge dark mass and I was like, 'what is that?' I just, I knew I wanted to get away from it. So I started swimming towards the shore and that's when he bit me between the legs because I was kicking and I just started screaming," Elisabeth tells Steven Fabian.
Elisabeth says she immediately tried to fight off the shark by punching its snout, but she soon found herself in even more trouble.
"I missed the mark, he grabbed me by my hand and pulled me under. And that's when I thought I was going to die. And the power of the jaws snapped my hand right off," Elisabeth says.
Immediately, she could see about four inches of her bone sticking out from the end of her now-severed arm.
This all happened while her husband and their three children were just a few feet away,
"Her skin was in shreds. I mean, it looked like a special effect," says 17-year-old daughter Laurel.
Foley's husband, Ryan, then began to pull her towards the shore and was astonished to see a number of good Samaritans rushing to help his wife.
"People who didn't know us just clamored towards us to help us, you know, and it was just pretty amazing," Ryan says.
Among those who played the biggest role in saving her life that day were three friends who were also on vacation.
Paramedic Rylee Smith and nurses Abby Juedemann and Bailey Massa were enjoying a girls' trip to the beach when they heard Elisabeth's screams.
"I was like, 'Uh-oh, that's not ok,' and I looked up and saw the blood in the water," Rylee tells Inside Edition. "And I looked at them and was like, 'are y'all ready?'"
The three women rushed to Elisabeth's side and helped to treat her and minimize the bleeding before she got to the hospital.
Elisabeth had not seen the women since they saved her life, so Inside Edition reunited the four.
"I am so happy to see your beautiful faces," Elisabeth told the three women while overcome with emotion. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my life that day, I wouldn't be here talking to you today if you hadn't been there."
And now thanks to those three ladies, a medical evacuation, 19 surgeries, two months in the hospital and a prosthetic hand, Elisabeth is on the road to recovery.
She will still need reconstructive surgery from where the shark bit her pelvis, but Elisabeth is now out of the hospital and happy to be alive and back home with her family in Virginia.
"We weren't sure I was going to make it, so it's amazing that I'm here," says Elizabeth.
The family is also now dealing with massive medical bills and anyone who would like to contribute or get more information can check out their GiveSendGo account or Elisabeth's Instagram.
