May 5, 2013: Michael Adler talks about his ordeal from his hospital bed at Holmes Regional Medical Center. (wsvn)
A Florida teenager is recovering after he was bitten on the foot and ankle by a shark while surfing over the weekend.
WSVN reports 15-year-old Michael Adler of Fort Lauderdale was surfing with friends in Melbourne Saturday when he was thrown off his surfboard by a strong wave. As he struggled to regain his footing, he says the murky water prevented him from seeing the shark.
"It felt like I'd stepped in coral and a bunch of rocks," Adler told WSVN. "I wasn't sure it was a shark when it first happened."
Adler made his way back to shore and a military member helped him with a makeshift tourniquet until paramedics arrived.
"He had 20 holes on top of his foot," Dr. Mark Munro, who treated Adler at Holmes Regional Medical Center, told WSVN. "One larger one was three inches long, and that's the one that went to the top of his foot down to the bone of the ankle joint."
Adler says he is eager to surf again, despite the attack.
"Now I know I'm not gonna get bit again so I'm not scared," he told WSVN. "I mean, how many people get bitten by a shark, twice?"
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