Boy, 13, who lost leg in shark attack shares miraculous story of survival: ‘The Lord gave me the strength’

Three years after a 10-year-old boy endured a vicious shark attack that took his right leg below the knee, the now-teen is sharing his story of the life-altering encounter and miraculous series of events that culminated in his survival.

Jameson Reeder Jr., now 13 years old, and his father, Jameson Reeder Sr., told Fox News Digital that they were nine miles offshore in the crystal-clear waters of Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys with Jameson’s mother and three siblings in August 2022 when he took a GoPro camera underwater to see if he could spot turtles and other marine life.

Jameson Sr. said he was just resurfacing from the seabed to tell Jameson Jr.’s younger brother, Nehemiah, what he saw "when I heard the screaming."

"Once we get Jameson on to the boat, that's when we see the unbelievable damage and know he has just been viciously attacked by a massive shark," Jameson Sr. said. "And we have not seen the shark. Iit snuck up – it was hunting essentially – and came out of nowhere."

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Jameson Jr. recalled the moment of the fateful encounter with a bull shark at least 8 feet long just after he spotted a sea turtle underwater.

"Once it attacked me, I didn't think of anything else except what the heck is attacking me," the 13-year-old said. "It jerks my head back while it's shaking me, and I see that it was a shark, and so I jerked my head back into place and I started screaming for help."

Jameson Sr. and his wife, Mary Catherine Reeder, wrote about the horrific experience and the family’s journey of healing in a new book titled "Rescue at the Reef: The Miraculous True Story of a Little Boy with Big Faith."

Jameson Sr. recalled screaming "in absolute horror" as he held his bleeding son, thinking these could be his final moments.

"Jameson's leg below the knee was essentially gone," the father said. "All that was there was the tibia bone, the main bone, and it had sharp teeth marks all over it. The fibula, the outer, smaller bone, was gone. All the flesh, all the muscle, everything, and then just attached at the bottom of the tibia bone was his foot. Below the knee to the foot, nothing."

A series of events soon unfolded that the father said were nothing short of miraculous.

A boat nearest to the Reeder’s boat happened to be the fastest vessel on the reef and offered to race Jameson to shore, and a nurse suddenly appeared from the water, jumping aboard with a dry medical bag to help the injured boy.

"You don’t expect to meet a nurse in the middle of the ocean," Jameson Sr. said.

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However, the biggest miracle of them all, Jameson Sr. said, was his son’s belief that "Jesus will save me."

Jameson Jr. said he saw "a man on fire" as he tried to stay awake during the ride to shore, and when the fire cleared "it was actually Jesus."

"And I just looked at him, and he looked at me. He didn't say anything, but he just gave me the sense of peace," Jameson Jr. said, adding that he was then able to sing, "Here I am to Worship," all the way to shore to keep himself awake.

Jameson Jr. then spent three weeks in the hospital, where he underwent four surgeries. He will still need additional surgery on his leg as he continues to grow.

Despite this, the 13-year-old has yet to let the injury stop him from having fun.

"I surf, I play baseball, and sometimes I do a little bit of rock climbing and school," he said. "I play electric guitar and I sing."

The boy has also returned to the site of the life-changing shark encounter to face his fears.

"The Lord gave me the strength to go back to the reef," he said, adding that he had a great time swimming with his friends and family.

Jameson Jr. also has a newfound love of sharks, with the image of one of the predators on his prosthetic leg. He also says that he wants to go shark diving one day – without a cage.

The Reeder family said they expect to return to the reef again later this month on the anniversary of the shark attack.