Man films shark bite while spearfishing

Parker Simpson's spearfishing trip near Stock Island, Fla., took a horrifying turn when a 7-foot reef shark appeared, swimming towards him.

Simpson, a 23-year-old Key West resident, filmed his own shark attack as the reef shark closed in on his leg. The shark appeared around the 36-second mark.

He tried to avoid the shark, but it managed to get a major bite on his leg. Simpson retreated to the boat and needed 56 stitches.

He described the attack on his GoFundMe page (Warning: graphic photos):

This past Sunday I was attacked by a 7-8ft Reef Shark. We were spearfishing near Middle Sambo reef off Boca Chica in the Florida Keys when this shark came out of nowhere. He first went at my dive buddy Justyn but immediately turned toward me. He bit my left fin then took a chunk out of the right one before biting my leg and cutting the speargun line. I assumed he was trying to steal the black grouper i was holding. But after I lost the grouper and watched it swim to the bottom, the shark kept coming at us! Justyn went back down for my gun and actually shoved it in the sharks mouth like a badass!!!! The shark then took it straight to the bottom while we rushed back to the boat and safety. Always dive with a buddy and someone who is trained in first aid!

I would not have made it back to the boat without the help of another strong swimmer and would have bled out had I not been patched up so well by Amanda. The shark tore through the skin, fat tissue, muscle, muscle sheath, and unfortunately my tibial artery which caused me to lose more than a liter of blood.

We sped back to the marina as fast as possible and I finally made it into the ER where the doctors spent about three and a half hours stitching up the wound and 56 stitches to do so! I'm very lucky I didnt bleed out and got to keep my leg!

After all that, Simpson managed to recover his speargun. We wouldn't blame him if he never went into the water again, though.