05/06/2017 KPBS reports, Surgeon: San Onofre Shark-Attack Victim ‘Doing Remarkably Well.’ Leeanne Ericson, 35, has regained consciousness and is able to respond to questions by nodding or shaking her head, though she remains on a respirator, trauma surgeon Gail Tominaga told news crews during a briefing at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.
“She will have a long recovery, but she is doing remarkably well (considering) her injuries,” Tominaga said. Ericson has undergone two operations to clean up her wounds and control bleeding and will have “a few more,” including a nerve graft, Tominaga told reporters. Doctors are doing everything they can to make her leg “as functional as possible,” the surgeon said.
Ericson’s family has set up a GoFundMe.com page to help defray her medical costs, with a target total of $200,000. As of this morning, the website had generated more than $66,000 for the cause.
And a 10 News San Diego update
05/05/2017 KTLA reports several shark sightings have been reported off the Southern California coast in early May, 2017. (Credit: KTLA) Within the past week, nine sharks — estimated to be between 8 and 10 feet long — were reported at Poche Beach in Dana Point and an 11-foot shark was spotted off San Clemente Pier. Two surfers said they were chased out of the water at Uppers (Trestles) and another group of aggressive sharks were reported at Lowers (Trestles).
05/05/2017 Great whites in the water video footage from a boat towing company in Long Beach showing an unknown number of great white sharks swimming near the shore.
05/02/2017 NBC San Diego reports the victim’s place of employment – Pacific Marine Credit Union – has opened an account to collect donations for the victim and her family. Pacific Marine Credit Union has opened an account to collect donations for Ericson and her family. “We are asking for the generous support and well wishes from the Southern California community to help us provide support for our co-worker in her time of need,” a statement from the credit union read.” All proceeds from the account will go directly to Ericson and her family. Donations can be made at any Pacific Marine Credit Union branch location, or by mail. Make checks payable to:
“Support Leeanne”
C/O Pacific Marine Credit Union
1278 Rocky Point Drive
Oceanside, CA 92056
05/02/2017 Fox 5 San Diego reports that the North County woman ‘fighting for her life’ after shark attack. Leeanne Ericson, 35, was swimming in the surf off the coast of Camp Pendleton about 6:30 p.m. Saturday when a shark tore off the back of her thigh “from her glute to her knee,” her mother, Christine McKnerney Leidle, wrote on a GoFundMe.com page set up to help defray the victim’s medical costs.
“She’s now in Scripps Memorial Hospital (La Jolla) fighting for her life,” McKnerney Leidle wrote. Ericson, who was placed in a medically induced coma, “has a long (road) ahead with several surgeries to go,” her mother stated.
05/01/2017 San Onofre Shark Attack Update: The Orange County Register report, “In the area near the shark attack incident, military guards were stopping people from entering, only allowing people in the campsite access to the sand. Bright red signs reading ‘Shark Warning Keep Out … Water activity prohibited in this area’ lined the sand. Two people were on a surfboard, and the two other females were swimming nearby in the surf line up. A female, who was wearing swim fins and wading in the water, was bitten on her glute and down her thigh.”
05/01/2017 CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (CBS 8/AP) – San Onofre beach on Camp Pendleton, which was closed following a shark attack that left Vista woman severely injured, is expected to reopen Wednesday morning, base officials announced Monday.
A shark attacked Leeanne Ericson, who was camping at San Onofre, as she waded in the ocean with friends, tearing away part of her upper thigh off, authorities and witnesses said Sunday. Doctor’s stabilized Ericson, but she remains in a medically induced coma as her three children wait for answers.
She loves the ocean and decided to join her boyfriend in the water when she was bitten by a shark.
“She was swimming, he was surfing and I guess he heard her scream when he was on the board,” said family friend Laura Smith. “He jumped and dove off the board and went looking for her and found her on the bottom and brought her up on the surf board and paddled in with her and tied the leash around her leg to try to control the bleeding until they airlifted her down to the hospital, but if it wasn’t for him she wouldn’t have made it. He truly save her life.”
They’re grateful for the quick thinking that saved her from paying the ultimate price.
“She was technically drowned so someone had to start breathing for her and getting her back to life,” said Smith. “She was conscious when they airlifted her so she was conscious and talking.”
Ericson’s thigh was severely damaged by the shark.
CBS News 8 – San Diego, CA News Station – KFMB Channel 8
10 News San Diego reports San Onofre Beach remains closed following weekend shark attack
ABC 7 in Los Angeles reports, “The injury was likely caused by a great white or a seven-gill shark, said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach. Several sharks have been sighted in the area recently.”
NBC San Diego reports San Onofre State Beach is closed until Monday morning following a shark attack in the waters off a popular surf spot.
The Orange County Register reports four women were in the water at a surf spot called “Church,” north of the San Onofre surf beach and in front of Camp Pendleton campgrounds, said state park aide Travis Lara. The attack happened shortly after 6 p.m. in a well-known surf spot nearby called Church, north of the power plant near Basilone Road. The location is near Camp Pendleton.
Two women were on surfboards, and the two other females were swimming nearby in the surf line up.
One of the women, who was wearing swim fins and wading in the water, was bitten on her “glute and down her thigh,” Lara said.
Hunter Robinson, who along with his friends helped rescue the woman, said she was bitten once from her hip to her leg.
“Somebody just yelled ‘shark’, you know, and like ‘shark! My friend got bit!’ got us kind of, he was just yelling it on the beach,” Robinson told NBC 7.
“The back of her leg was really badly bit, you know, just to the bone, from above her knee to above to her butt, it was bad,” Robinson recalled. “It was a real bite, yeah. I’ll never forget it, ever. It was like full what you would imagine in a shark bite.”
The woman’s rescuers said almost all the muscle in her leg was missing by the time they got her to the shore.
Two surfers pulled her out of the water and a person on the beach used a surf leash on her upper thigh to stop the bleeding.
Shark Breaches at Lower Trestles – April 10th, 2017
A shark sighting was reported It’s a sight no surfer wants to see – a shark flinging itself from the water just a short distance away.
That’s what happened at the popular surf spot Lower Trestles just south of San Clemente on Monday morning, and the shark breach was caught on camera by Huntington Beach-based forecast company Surfline.com.
About 20 surfers sat in the water staring out onto the horizon while waiting for waves when the shark suddenly appeared leaping out of the water.