Lulu Gribbin – Surviving Shark Attack, Lulu Gribbin

After Surviving Shark Attack, Lulu Gribbin Is Thriving Through Golf

PGA of America Golf Professional Chris Biggins guides her journey

By Jesse Dodson, PGA

77 Days. That’s how long Birmingham, Alabama, teenager Lulu Gribbin spent in various hospitals after losing her left hand and right leg in a shark attack June 7th, 2024, at Seacrest Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

What started as a mother-daughter vacation with her twin sister Ellie and 16-year-old friend McCray Faust quickly turned into a life-altering situation.

While searching for sand dollars close to shore, a bull shark attacked the two friends, biting Faust on her lower right leg and foot, while inflicting life-threatening injuries on Gribbin. Thanks to the quick action of bystanders on the beach, Gribbin was life-flighted to Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, where her left hand and right leg, just above the knee, were amputated.

Gribbin, a competitive teen who grew up loving volleyball, basketball and golf, and participating in junior programs and tournaments at the Country Club of Birmingham, had no plans of allowing the shark attack to slow her down.

“I made it,” were her first words to parents Joe and Ann Blair in the hospital after the first of many surgeries.

While still in the hospital, Gribbin and her parents reached out to Eric Eshleman, PGA of America Secretary and Country Club of Birmingham Director of Golf, explaining that she wanted to go all in on golf.

“I’ve always known how to play golf,” said Gribbin, “but now it’s my main sport and I love it. It’s really become a big part of my life now, more than it was before.”

“It warmed my heart,” said Eshleman about the call. “One of the first things she thought while still in the hospital was ‘this isn’t slowing me down.’ When she was at her lowest of lows, golf was going to serve as a saving grace to move her life forward.”

Fortunately, PGA of America Golf Professional Chris Biggins, Director of Player Development at the Country Club of Birmingham—and a nationally ranked adaptive golfer born with cerebral palsy—  knew just how to help.

Biggins, known to many as “Biggs,” not only travels the world competing in adaptive golf tournaments, but was also on the U.S. Paralympic Development Ski Team from 2014-2022. He knew exactly the correct way to approach working with Gribbin.

Three months after the attack, Gribbin was swinging a golf club….

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WATCH CNN INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS & LULU >