South Padre shark attack survivor returns home to Celina

These days, life looks a little different for Tabatha Sullivent.

She’s moving at a slower pace but grateful to be moving at all, especially in her Celina home after seven weeks away. 

“I think for people who have been in a hospital and in a bed and on bed rest, mastering a bedpan is something that can't be done. And going through that and being on bed rest and not being able to get up and do things on my own, there were some hard times,” Sullivent said through tears.

On July 4, Sullivent was on a trip to South Padre with family and friends. They were celebrating a birthday, a graduation, an engagement, and an anniversary when their final day at the beach went terribly wrong.

Cellphone video captured strangers crowding around Sullivent after she was pulled from the water following a shark attack. In it, she’s bleeding heavily, and her left calf is gone.

“All I could hear was grab a rope. Grab a belt. You know, everyone was trying to figure out what to get to stop the bleeding,” she said.

First responders rushed Sullivent to a hospital in Brownsville. That same day, she said she was flown to another facility in Edinburg.

The days that followed became a monotony of hospital procedures. Throughout a seven-week stay in south Texas, Sullivent staved off infection, underwent a skin graft, and slowly fought to get back on two feet.

She returned home just this week. Using a walker to get around, she said the number of steps she can take remains limited.

“Right now, I don’t have any feeling in the bottom of my foot. I don’t have any feeling in my ankle. I have very little mobility. Circulation, we’re still waiting on my body to figure out, 'Hey, my calf’s not there. We’re going to have to find another way to circulate,”' said Sullivent.

Soon, she hopes to begin another round of rehabilitation to work toward walking unassisted.

Sullivent will always have the scars, as will her husband, Cary, who was injured trying to save her that day.

“He saw me from the beach, and he saw the blood in the waves. And that’s the first thing he saw ... He just saw blood in the waves, and he was automatically running on water, so he was the first one to grab me and pull me to shore,” she said. “I mean, who fights a shark for you?"

It's a bond now strengthened like so many in Sullivent's life.

“You have your family. You have your friends, you know they're going to want to help, let them help,” she said.

Friends raised over $28,000 to help with the family’s medical expenses. Celina Junk Removal built a ramp into their home before Sullivent returned this week.

As she moves forward, Sullivent also finds strength through sharing her story.

“For me, it’s been a release to talk about it. It’s almost like therapy. If I talk about it and remember it, I can release it and get it out,” said Sullivent.