FORT WORTH — A 12-year-old Fort Worth boy survived a shark attack this summer. Now he has a story to share with all of his friends.
Nicholas Vossler is finally back home, weeks after a bull shark chomped into his foot. He is determined to show that shark it didn't ruin his summer vacation.
"I looked down and saw a head and I knew it was a shark," he said. "It was really fast. I was less than, probably less than five seconds."
But those few seconds left Nicholas' leg marked with scars. Pins remain from a half-dozen surgeries — and there are more to come.
Still, he talks about what happened with courage.
"We were just standing out there and letting the big waves hit us," Nicholas said.
The Vossler family was near Matagorda Bay jumping waves when the shark circled and attacked. Family friends carried him across the beach, while his dad tried to keep everyone calm.
"The first thing he told his mother when he got on the boat was, 'Mom, you need to start praying for me,'" Cecil Vossler recalled.
It took a high-powered boat and a helicopter ride to get Nicholas to Houston's Hermann Memorial Hospital, where he and his family spent more than three weeks with a team of doctors and nurses.
"He is going to have a functioning foot when we get done," the elder Vossler said. "We're just blessed that he has a foot."
Finally home in Fort Worth, Nicholas will spend the next 6 to 8 weeks on the couch and in a wheelchair.
He's passing the time checking Facebook for messages of support and spending time on his brother's blog — "Nicholas Bites Back."
"It was supposed to show family photos from another fishing trip to Sunday Beach, but now it illustrates a fish story," Nicholas said. "I don't feel really lucky, but it's a weird thing when it happens. It's not every day that someone gets bit by a shark."
Doctors told the family that Nicholas is ahead of schedule with his recovery. He could be on his feet by the end of September, and possibly running by the first of the year.
E-mail cnorton@wfaa.com
