On Thursday, November 28th, 2002, a great white shark attacked Mike Casey, 48, at Salmon Creek in Sonoma County.

SP: Describe that fateful morning of November 25th, 2002.
MIKE CASEY: I had gone out to that specific break the morning before. It was really good, 8-10 feet, clear and not much wind. The surf was excellent and I didn't have a bad vibe. I made plans to surf the following day- Thanksgiving morning- with Jeff Mays and his son Cory, who was visiting from Colorado.

I picked them up at their house at about 6:30. By the time we arrived at the Boardwalk, it was about 7:15. It has a paved roadway that travels through sand dunes. At one point the hill crests and the ocean opens up in front of you. You can get a pretty good idea what the surf is doing at that point. We saw two or three peaks that were just going off. We were really excited. The spray from the offshore wind was blowing over the backside. We pulled into the parking lot.

We got out of my truck and got up onto the boardwalk. I thought it was about the same size as the day before, but it was about 10-12 feet. We got into our wetsuits. There were 4 or 5 of us that paddled out at 7:30 AM. Jeff and Cory paddled over not too far from the left I wanted to surf. The weather was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky. It was a hard for people dropping in on the waves. If you didn't take off at the right spot, you'd get blown off the backside. I didn't sense that anything was wrong- certainly no indication that there was a potential for a shark attack.

I had been in the water for 1 or 2 hours and had just caught a wave. I was paddling back out into the line up. At about the time I paddled back out, it was calm. The water was actually pretty glassy in the spot where I was waiting. I had been waiting for about 5 or 10 minutes. There were 4 or 5 of us, but we weren't sitting right on top of each other, probably spread out over 25 feet.

Were you sitting farther out than the rest of the crowd?
If I was sitting outside, I don't think it was that far outside.

I'm lying on my body board, panning the horizon. Leaning on my forearms and I had my feet dangling in the water. All of a sudden I felt this incredible surge of power from underneath. Instantaneously I felt a sharp pain in both my legs. I recall that once I felt the pain and had the realization that it was a shark, I think I yelled or screamed out.

I distinctly remember somehow kicking out in an attempt to separate from the shark. When I kicked at it I was somehow on my side or back. I don't know how I got in that position because I had been lying on my board. When I looked towards my feet, I saw the shark.

So was one of your legs in the sharks mouth when you were kicking?
I think my legs were still in the mouth at that time. Immediately after I kicked out with my legs to get away from this shark, I saw it just beyond my feet. It had already let go of me. Its mouth was open and I saw a row of teeth. At that time, it was slowly retreating into the water. Then it simply disappeared. I ended up treading water at that point. The whole incident from beginning to end could not have been more than 2 or 3 seconds.

Did time seem to more slowly at that instant?
No, everything just happened so quickly. The thing that stands out most of all was just the incredible force. To get bumped or struck by a big fish like this was pretty incredible. Then, almost immediately, feeling the pain in my legs and the instantaneous realization that, "Oh, my God. I'm getting bit by a shark here." There was a lot going through my mind: There was the fear, the shock. Wondering how bad it was, and was the shark going to come back and drag me under the water?

But then it was over. It was over almost as quickly as it'd begun.

Did you get back on your board at that point?
As I recall, I was initially in the water… I was stunned, wondering what was going to happen next. I recall being aware of 3 or 4 guys spread out, their faces were frozen in fear. I'll never forget that.

I saw one guy paddling towards me. It was Carlo Mascolo. He paddled directly up to me and I could tell by the look on his face that he was very concerned. He immediately asked me if I was all right. I don't recall what I said in response. He also said that we had to get out of the water as quickly as possible because the shark might come back again. We had to get out Right Now. He also said he was going to stick with me. He asked me if I could paddle in and I said, "Yeah, I think so." By that time I only had some pain and numbness in my legs. I couldn't kick my legs but I could certainly arm paddle.

Around that time we looked down at my legs and saw that my left thigh had a really large gash and there was skin hanging out of my wetsuit and blood. At least once Carlo yelled quite loudly for someone to get in and call 9-1-1. Since I was on a bodyboard and he was on a surfboard, he could cover a little more distance. Several times he dropped back to see how I was doing. A couple of times he asked me if I wanted to hold onto his board or get onto his board so he could paddle me in. I felt I was able to paddle in on my own.

When we reached the sand, I realized that I couldn't put any weight, at all on either one of my legs. Carlo and another guy grabbed me and dragged me up the beach to make sure I got away from water.

Were you able to ride the white water in?
I remember Carlo mentioned a couple of times that it'd be good to catch a wave to come in. There was a time when we got in the impact zone and I was really scared that I was going to take a couple of set waves on the head. But that didn't occur- fortunately. We hit another area where I was paddling and going nowhere. It was around there that Carlo said I should try to catch a wave in. Eventually I think I was able to catch some whitewater and head into the beach.

So you're on the beach bleeding…
I was immediately surrounded by at least half a dozen surfers in wetsuits. They were great. Everyone was looking out for my well being, making sure that I was comfortable. I remember one guy, Royce, was really concerned about bleeding out, so he applied pressure to my femoral arteries. After awhile he asked for some relief and another surfer took over. The pain gradually started to build. But at that point it wasn't excruciating. I was aware of the one real severe injury in my left thigh, but I really didn't have a sense of what the other injuries were. I was pretty much laying flat on my back, looking up. I was staying calm, trying to focus on my breathing; trying not to freak out and stay cool.

What was going through your head?
Part of it was wondering what was going to happen next. I really thought I was going to be put in an ambulance to the hospital. So I was somewhat surprised when someone told me that they were going to helicopter me to Santa Rosa. When I found that out, I was a lot more concerned about the severity of my injury. I remember having a very brief thought if I was going to be able to walk or surf again.

How about the thought of death? Was that possibility going through your head?
No, I didn't have a thought or concern about dying- mainly because of the way I felt. I had a pretty good idea that I was going to survive. But for a brief period of time I didn't know. I had given it over to the first aid rescue team. I thought, "It's in their hands now and I'm going to be taken care of appropriately."

Good thing you were able to get help immediately!
There was a lifeguard named Dan getting ready to paddle out about a mile up the beach when he first heard the call. I think he was the first guy on the scene. He got there about 5 or 10 minutes after I got pulled out of the water. About 15 minutes later there were several additional emergency responders.

They gave me oxygen and asked me medically related questions. Working together they carried me about 100 yards or so to the boardwalk before they could put me on a gurney and wheel me through the parking lot. I was aware of certain things through my peripheral vision. I sensed a lot of things were going on.

In the parking lot I remember there was a fire engine and an ambulance. There might have been a Sonoma County Sheriff vehicle. There was a lot of commotion.

They loaded me onto the helicopter and it seemed like I got to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital fairly quickly. It's about a 10-minute helicopter flight.

Once we got to the hospital they immediately wheeled me to what appeared to be, literally, a team of medical personnel- x-ray technician, assistants, and physician. They cut my wetsuit off and tended to my wounds. They took several x-rays of my pelvis and legs. They put me on IV, pain medication and other things. I remember my wife came to the hospital with my father in law. A couple of my surf friends were there. I was wheeled into surgery in order to clean out, stitch, and staple the wounds.

I had major lacerations to my left mid thigh. I had a large laceration to the left upper calf that severed the peroneal nerve. I also had several large lacerations to my right, inner thigh- right above the knee plus a laceration to my right, upper foot. From what I was told by my physicians, all of the lacerations were down to the bone. In fact, on several of the x-rays you could see the shark's teeth marks on my bones. In other words, the wounds were pretty deep.

Heavy duty.
They wanted to keep me in the hospital for 7-10 days to monitor me for infection. That was their primary concern. They had me on some heavy antibiotics and a lot of pain medication. A day or two later I realized that I had a problem with my left foot. I could not lift it. While I could press down with it, I could not lift it back up. That was a good indication of a severed nerve. They made me a plastic insert that wraps around my calf and it goes underneath my foot so it remains at a 90-degree angle. If I'm walking or using crutches, my foot doesn't hang down and drag.

Do you have to wear the prosthetic for that length of time?
They said that hopefully the nerve will grow back together, but it takes 8 to 12 months.

Bummer.
Yeah. Several days later we noticed that my right, big toe is hanging. The injury to the right upper foot wasn't just a laceration but it burst the tendon, and affected the function of my big toe. Thursday (12/19/02) evening I had another surgery. Now I have a cast on my right, lower leg for a couple weeks. When they take that off, they'll put me in a walking boot for another 2 or 3 weeks.

Again, I should have a full recovery, but a 3-month recovery. I'm using a cane now and can get around on my own. I went to court for the first time this week. I feel I've made a lot of improvement. I'm still not driving. I hope to be going back to karate soon. I study Shotokan and Shito-ru. After 18 years, I'm not giving it up now!

You've been doing martial arts for some time. Do you think that training helped you in this situation?

Afterward I heard from several people who commented that I was actually cool-headed once I got up on the beach. I think that, too, was a direct result of my training- just the ability to stay focused. I was controlling my breathing because I knew that would have a major impact on the way I'd be able to respond to the situation- not only physically but also mentally. I really think the ability to breathe calmly and deliberately was a direct result of the training I had. Also, I do my karate training about three times a week. From a stamina point of view it probably contributed to my overall physical condition, which I think, at my age, is pretty good. Or at least it was pretty good. (laughs)

Even with all of that martial arts training, it doesn't seem like it would prepare you for an attack from an opponent like that, huh?
Ironically, while I really enjoy the martial arts training- it's good exercise and fun- there is the self-defense aspect of it. I've been training for that situation where I may be attacked on the street. So after 18 years of training, where do I get attacked? In the water by a big fish! I never had any specific experience with that! (laughs) There was no specific karate kick that I could do to respond to the situation. But, on the other hand, there was the discipline and training that helped me to get out of the water.

Special thanks to Mike Casey for sharing his story with us, and to Maureen Casey who supplied the photos and helped with editing this interview.

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