There's probably no species on Earth with as much of a bad reputation as sharks. Despite the fact that shark attacks on human beings are incredibly rare, these animals are still abominated as terrifying, bloodthirsty predators. However, when they do attack people, the consequences can be agonising, grisly and fatal. However, a badass kickboxer who actually survived an attack by a shark has recently opened up about the terrifying experience, and his testament will make you dread going for a dip without a harpoon by your side.
Glenn Dickson, who hails from Mission Beach in Queensland, Australia, was on a spearfishing trip out at sea in February of 2017, with his friends Rick, Peter and Aaron. Glenn had dived into the typically-safe waters, only to find himself preyed upon by a hungry bull shark. The shark's razor-sharp teeth tore out a massive chunk of Glenn's thigh, which left him bleeding profusely and in massive amounts of pain. Despite this he managed, through sheer resilience and fortitude, to wriggle out of the shark's grip when it regurgitated some of his swallowed flesh, and he swam to the safety of a rocky outcrop.
His friends managed to rescue him and haul him back onto their boat; but they still had a five-hour journey back towards land ahead, and Glenn was risking death by blood loss. Former US marine Rick managed to make a tourniquet and bandage the wound, and resuscitate Glenn several times. He was eventually airlifted to hospital, and had to have the bitten leg amputated. He was placed in an artificial coma, but managed to recover, and has now hit the gym again.
Commenting on the grisly incident in a recent interview, Glenn stated: "At one stage, there was so much blood pouring out of my leg that I was just minutes from death. I lost half the blood in my body. I could see a bright light in my eyes and knew that if I allowed it to overcome me, I wouldn’t come back. But the thought of my beautiful wife-to-be, Jessie-Lee, and our lovely children made me hold on and not let go."
He added: "Sharks are just carnivores like us, who need to eat to survive, and seeing them so frequently – maybe once every trip – you get used to them being there. It can be a little discomforting when they swim near you, but I’d never had any reason to be frightened of them ... It took me completely by surprise. I just felt this awesome jolt smash right through my entire body. It had my whole leg inside its mouth, with its teeth in my thigh going right down through into the bone."
"I knew that he was going to come back for me, so I had to try and get out of the water," he stated. "Peter and Aaron had never seen anything like it and were pretty shaken up, vomiting over the boat, although Rick, having seen dramatic injuries on active duty, remained very calm. I was falling in and out of consciousness and Rick had to resuscitate me about four or five times. He knew that if I fell asleep, I wouldn’t come back again."
Despite being disabled by the attack, Glenn is determined not to let his prothetic leg impede him from martial arts, or from being the world's best dad. Glen, you are officially a bigger badass than Chuck Norris. Give yourself a pat on the back.
