Sixteen-year-old Hunter Treschl, who lost his arm in a shark attack over the weekend in North Carolina, said from his hospital bed he will "fight and try to live a normal life."
Treschl was one of two young swimmers attacked by sharks on Sunday, just two hours apart along the same beach. Both were reported in stable condition Wednesday, but both had to undergo amputations as a result of the attacks.
From his hospital bed in New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Treschl thanked his rescuers and Good Samaritans who helped him get to safety, and said he plans to stay positive despite the physical scars.
"So I have two options," Treschl said in an interview with hospital staff posted on YouTube. "I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don't have an arm, or I can let this be debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it in a way."
"There's only one I would actually choose to do, and that's to fight and try to live a normal life with the cards I've been dealt," Treschl added.
Treschl also described the moments leading up to the attack, saying he was playing in waist-deep water with his cousin when he first felt the shark near him.
Treschl said he didn't see it coming, and didn't know it was a shark until it began to bite. When the shark first bumped into his leg and arm, Treschl said he thought it might be a big fish.
"I felt like this kind of hit on my left leg," he said. "It felt like normal, like it's a big fish coming near you, then I felt it one more time and then it hit my arm and it was, that was the first time I saw it when it was biting up my left arm."
He said somehow he was able to get the shark off his arm, after which his cousin helped him get out of the water.
Two hours earlier in Oak Island, a 12-year-old girl was also attacked by a shark. She lost part of her left arm.
Witness photo of Good Samaritan helping shark attack victim before emergency crews arrived.
WNCN reported the beach was evacuated after the second attack.
Both victims were taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where Treschl said there were more than two dozen people waiting to tend to his injuries.
"I was conscious for the whole thing and aware, I'd like to think I was aware, at least," he said.
