“I saw this big pool of blood”

Matthew Lidle was playing in the sand at the water's edge with his 8-year-old son when he heard screaming.

His wife and in-laws were in the water at Seacrest Beach on Florida's Gulf Coast when chaos erupted Friday afternoon – two separate shark attacks seriously injured a 45-year-old Virginia woman , as well as Lulu, 15 years old. Gribbin of Mountain Brook.

Lulu's friend, McCray Faust, 16, also a student at Mountain Brook High School, was also bitten, but is OK.

The attacks occurred less than two hours and four miles apart along the popular vacation stretch known as 30A.

It was in Lidle that the two teenagers were attacked.

“You just heard people screaming and I didn’t know why. And everyone on the shore was screaming too,” Lidle said. “They started yelling, 'Shark, shark, shark,' so I got up right at the water break.”

“I saw this big pool of blood, about 50 yards away, and everyone was there,” he said. “So, I ran over there. I didn't think about anything, I just ran out.

Lidle said he came upon a man holding Lulu by the arm. She had been attacked by a shark while searching for sand dollars with friends near the sandbar.

“It looked like he was fighting the shark or keeping her away from the shark,” he said. “He was there where it all happened.”

Lidle shouted at the man to give him Lulu.

“I just started screaming, 'Give me the girl, give me the girl.' We need to get her back to the beach,” he said.

The man gave Lulu to Lidle. She was alert and conscious.

“She said, ‘I can’t walk,’ and that’s when I noticed all her injuries,” Lidel said. “I was talking to him saying, 'Stay with me, talk to me.'

“I was worried because when I got to her, she was no longer bleeding,” he said. “That’s what’s scary, she had lost so much blood.”

Lidle brought Lulu ashore where there were two doctors – Dr. Ryan Forbess and Dr. Mohammed Ali – and at least one nurse who was also on vacation that day and sprang into action.

“I was just part of the chain,” Lidle said. “I picked her up from where the attack happened, on the beach.”

“As soon as I got to the beach, the professionals took over,” he said. “The two doctors over there are preparing with blankets, tourniquets and towels.”

“We made sure we put her on the sand properly,” Lidle said. “I hope I did the right thing.”

Lidle's wife moved him and their son away from the immediate scene, where everyone was gathered around Lulu and her friend, McCray Faust, 16, who was bitten on the foot.

“That’s when everything became hysterical,” he said.

The Lidle family waited while the two girls were taken to the hospital.

“We felt really bad for their family, for those girls,” Lidle said. “We hunkered down and packed our bags.”

Lulu was flown to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, where she immediately underwent surgery.

Her mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, provided details about the attack and her daughter's condition on the Caring Bridge website on Sunday.

“She was lifeless, her eyes closed, her mouth white and pale. The injury to her leg or whatever was left of her leg was something out of a movie,” Gribbin wrote. “I finally came back to her and held her hand and she saw me and I told her that I was there.

“His eyes were open. I had no idea how long she had been there or what had happened. Almost immediately the beach truck was there and the paramedics loaded her onto a board, put her back in the truck and took her away, she was airlifted,” the post states.

Surgeons told the family the shark tore off Lulu's left hand and they had to amputate her right leg halfway up, from the knee to the hip. She had also lost two thirds of her blood.

“I was so happy to hear that she was alive because after seeing that, I wasn’t sure,” he said.

Lidle and his family returned to Memphis the next day.

Through multiple channels, we were finally able to get in touch with the Gribbin family and spoke with Lulu on the phone Monday from her hospital bed.

“She looks good, considering what she’s been through,” Lidle said.

Lulu told him about what happened that day.

“She said it first bit her friend, then bit her hand, grabbed her hand,” he said. “That’s when they started fighting. He then came back and bit her on the leg and did all the damage there.

Lidle said he was so grateful to have been able to talk to him.

“I feel bad because I feel like her life was stolen from her,” he said, “but she seems to be in good spirits about it.”

“She made it,” Lidle said. “This is the most important thing.”

Lidle's wife, Rachel, posted about the attack on Facebook.

“Without thinking, Matt encountered the enormous amount of blood in the ocean and carried it to shore, putting his life in great danger,” she wrote. “I can’t express all the admiration I have for him.”

“I absolutely know that God put him there for a reason and that it was Matt’s selfless sacrifice to help save her.”

Lidle said he was no hero. “I was one of several people who helped me,” he said.

He described the ordeal as terrifying.

“I’ve thought about it every minute, all day, since it happened on Friday,” he said.

Lidle said he hopes to stay in touch with Lulu.

“For everything she went through, she was very grateful and appreciative,” he said. “She had more energy than I thought.”

“She seemed really nice and told me she wanted to send me something,” Lidle said. “I plan to continue to follow his recovery. I would love to see her progress.