At just 16 years old, Lulu Gribbin is a powerful model for resilience and purpose, channeling her life-altering shark attack experience into actions aimed at making our world a safer, better place.
Lulu’s survivor story began on June 7, 2024. While diving for sand dollars with friends on Florida’s Gulf Coast, she was attacked by a bull shark, severing her left hand and part of her right leg. Thanks to the talents of nearby strangers who quickly responded to her urgent situation in the water and on the beach, Lulu was airlifted to a Pensacola hospital where her surgeon’s battlefield experience led him to make the difficult but life-saving decision to amputate her leg.
After waking from the first of many lifesaving surgeries, Lulu’s first words were “I MADE IT”—a statement that has set the tone for her remarkable journey of recovery, strength, and tenacity.
Once stabilized, Lulu relocated to Charlotte, NC where she gained access to cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) therapy and other rehabilitation treatments that allowed her to walk out of the hospital after only 77 days—a milestone that typically takes amputees a year or more to achieve—and returned home to Birmingham, AL with a prosthetic arm and leg.
Lulu is currently a junior at Mountain Brook High School. If she’s not out on the links showing up all the other golfers, she’s probably water skiing, running, or enjoying time with friends and family.
