Cape Cod Shark Attack Victim 911 Calls Released
Man tells 'GMA' he's in no hurry to get back in the water.
Aug. 1, 2012 — -- The man who barely survived what is believed to be great white shark attack in the waters off Cape Cod said he worried about blood loss during the ordeal and that he's in no hurry to return to the water that he loves.
"It will take some gentle effort to get back in the water, but I hope one day," Chris Myers said on "Good Morning America" today from the Boston hospital where he is recovering.
Myers was swimming with his teenage son J.J. off the coast of Ballston Beach in Truro, Mass., around 3:30 p.m. Monday when he was apparently pulled under the water by a shark. Police say Myers was bit in both legs below the knees in possibly one single, crushing blow.
The harrowing moments after the father of two emerged still alive from the water can now be heard on the 911 calls received after the attack.
"A shark attack, he's bleeding, he's wounded. His whole ankle's been bit, we need 911!" according to screams recorded during the calls.
Beachgoers had just watched helplessly as Myers was pulled under the water while he and his teenage son were bodysurfing. Myers soon surfaced and screamed for help.
"Suddenly, something came up between them. It had a large dorsal fin," Truro summer resident Anne-Marie Corner told local ABC affiliate WCVB.
Myers and son J.J. told "GMA" this morning of the moment they realized that the attack was happening and what went through their minds as they raced to the shore.
"We were trying to get 400 to 500 yards through some deeper water, trying to get out to a sand bar," Myers said.
J.J. said the attack seemed unreal.
"I heard him scream and turned around, and saw the back and the fin of the shark up out of water," he said. "At that point it hit me when it was happening. But at the same time, I thought that none if it was real. It really seemed like a movie. None of it seemed real until I was on the beach."
After the shark attacked, the father and son attempted to get back to land as quickly as possible.
"We really didn't have a lot of options," Chris Myers said. "We were motivated, so we swam, hard. I was thinking as I was swimming, my lungs were fine, my kick was fine, I was starting to feel kind of dizzy and wondering if I was losing blood. My concern was that I wouldn't make it back to shore, but we were able to do it."
J.J. stayed by his side as emergency medical personnel raced his dad to the hospital.
One witness said, "They dragged him out and they had to carry him up here and they had to wrap it around his legs and he was bleeding through the gauzes. It was bad. Both his legs were pretty bad," one witness said.
Dr. Greg Skomal, Massachusetts' top shark scientist, says it was most likely a great white.
"Given what we now about the other species in the area ... it's not likely to be a Blue or a Mako, or any of those other coastal sharks. All this add up to the white shark being a candidate."
A great white shark was also spotted trailing a kayaker three weeks ago at Nauset Beach, about 25 miles south of Monday's attack. That's a total of four shark sightings this summer off the coast of Cape Cod.
Chris Myers told "GMA" that it may take some time to return to the beach, where he says he has been swimming his entire life.
"I've been swimming at that beach since I was a little kid, and no one in recent memory has ever had a shark attack, let alone by a great white, which they are saying they think it was. Maybe people need to be a little more careful."
Chris Myers runs the foundation myerslearning.com, a learning company based in Denver, Colo. The foundation helps children build strong and playful minds and develop their passion for creativity and invention.
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