MIAMI (WSVN) - A 9-year-old boy is recovering in the hospital after a shark attack in Miami Beach.
Jay Weiskopf was with his family visiting from Minnesota when, his mom said, he was bitten by a shark.
“It’s bad. It’s really bad. It’s not just a little scratch,” said his mother, Kristine.
The Weiskopfs were waiting for their hotel room to be available, so they decided to check out the beach near Second Street, Sunday morning.
That’s when their vacation took a turn for the worst.
“I caught a glimpse of the shark. It wasn’t very big, but it took a big chunk,” said Kristine.
Kristine said they were wading in water that was only about two and a half feet deep, and they were only there for about 10 minutes before the marine predator bit Jay.
“A wave came, and we kind of just body surfed, and when he stood up, he just said, ‘Ow,’ and there was just a chunk missing from his shoulder — and I’m talking horror film gore,” said Kristine.
Kristine grabbed her son and rushed him to shore while bystanders called 911.
“I ran up the beach, and two nurses were actually there, so they were applying pressure, and then the paramedics came very quickly,” she said.
Paramedics transported Jay to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment.
“They’re working on just keeping him on antibiotics, because the main concern right now is infections,” said Kristine.
Kristine praised her son for how he reacted to the attack.
“He was so brave,” she said. “He was a rock star.”
According to Jay’s mother, it was his first visit to an actual beach.
“If it had gotten his face, if it had gotten his leg, it might have been a lot worse, or even his side where there’s organs,” she said. “He got really lucky for a horrible situation.”
Kristine said Jay now has about 120 stitches in his body. She said he is still suffering from both physical and emotional trauma.
“He keeps saying, ‘No beach, the shark tried to eat me,’ so there’s a lot of trauma, and it’s going to take some time and some help to get through that,” she said.
Jay is currently in the intensive care unit recovering and is expected to be released Tuesday.
“He’s scared, but he’s on the mend, and that’s the most important thing, is that he’s going to be OK,” said Kristine.
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