Helen Fairlamb (pictured) says she wants to swim again. (Image: Photo by Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
A woman from Warrington who was the victim of a shocking shark attack in which a massive piece of her arm was bitten off has revealed how she managed to survive the encounter. Biologist Helen Fairlamb, who grew up in the UK but is now based in New Zealand, relived the horrifying November 2024 near-death experience on off the coast of Hawaii.
In an interview on ITV‘s This Morning to mark Shark Awareness Day on Tuesday (July 14), Ms Fairlamb said she was targeted by the creature which moved like a “bullet” whilst she was freediving with her coworkers. Recounting what happened that day to hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, the scientist said she “just noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye”, as the reef shark “whipped around quite quickly”. Ms Fairlamb said the creature’s style of swimming “changed completely and she just very directly moved efficiently like a bullet almost towards me”, adding that she knew it was probably going to “end with a bite”.
The shark lover revealed the aftermath of the attack in an appearance on This Morning. (Image: This Morning/Instagram)
After sinking its teeth into her upper arm, the shark “shook” her. Though such an attack is the stuff of nightmares for most people, the animal lover said she felt calm, and remembered the advice of fellow shark attack survivor Mick Fanning about striking the eyes, nose and gills of the marine beast, which are sensitive areas.
It worked and the shark released her. After that she said her thoughts were “next step, oxygen, up to the surface and then the next step, get out of the water because there’s blood in the water”.
She managed to get onto a kayak later told that the blood had attracted 13 other sharks around the area, but wasn’t told as her colleagues tried to keep her calm and get her to emergency treatment.
A torniquet was wrapped around her arm to stem the bleeding, and a colleague sailed her back to the shore, with Ms Fairlamb facing an agonising wait during the hour and 20-minute jounrney.
She told the show she remembers trying to keep as calm as possible, continuing to lie down, sip fluids, and think about the “beautiful freediving I had been doing before the event”.
Ms Fairlamb says she had started to fade out by the time they made it to land, but thankfully there was a medic on the island she had been working on who managed to increase her blood pressure from dangerous levels with IV fluids, and gave her medication to help stem the bleeding.
He attempted to change the torniquet and warned her arm may need to be amputated to save her life.
Thankfully a passing carrier plane was able to pick her up and take her the hospital, which may have played a crucial role in her living to tell the tale.
Ms Fairlamb spent three weeks in the ICU and had to undergo three minor surgeries before being moved to a hospital in Manchester where she was due have the arm amputated.
Doctors there told her they would wait to see if the body was able to heal and an amputation could be avoided, which proved to be the case.
She showed the hosts her arm, which has now healed, revealing a large section of her upper arm that’s now missing.
Ms Fairlamb who says the arm is still functional, was keen to stress that the threat of reef sharks to human is minimal, and the attack occured in a highly remote area.
The shark itself if though to be a pregnant female, and she thinks it was “maybe she was just getting protective over her territory and her future young which is completely understandable”.
Despite all she’s been through, Ms Fairlamb says she is determined to get back in the water again. She also championed the importance of protecting sharks, saying they’re a ” vital part of our marine ecosystem”.
“Without them we wouldn’t have healthy oceans and without healthy oceans we lose half of the oxygen we breathe everyday,” she added.
