Annabelle: Shark Attack Survivor Reclaims Her Life After Limb Loss

Annabelle was the first to jump into the water.

“I’m so grateful it was me instead of my siblings — they could’ve died,” she says.

In August of 2024,15-year-old Annabelle was scuba diving three hours off the coast of Belize with her mom, Kellie, and two younger siblings, Sofia and Magnus. Within seconds of hitting the water, everything in Annabelle’s life changed.

“I just felt something grab my hand,” Annabelle recalls. “At first, I didn’t know what was happening. Then the adrenaline hit, and I knew I had to fight.”

Fighting for her life against sharks

A shark began attacking her hands almost instantly after she jumped from the boat. Injured and drifting further from safety, Annabelle punched and struck back as best she could.

Other diving guests on the boat scrambled to help and threw her a buoy, but her hands were too wounded to grip it. She managed to loop her arm around it. Just as they began to pull her to safety, a second shark struck — tearing away the soft tissue from her knee to her ankle — a bite that would later lead to the amputation of her right leg.  

Still conscious, Annabelle made it onto the boat thanks to the courageousness of her family and a few strangers who she now refers to as guardian angels. But she was losing blood fast.

“It was a journey just to get her to the coastline and to a hospital alive,” Kellie says. “We were so far out, and I knew time was everything.” 

By some miracle, a nearby tourist happened to be a firefighter and had brought a tourniquet with him. Despite seeing the blood in the water, he swam towards Annabelle, risking his own life to help save hers.

The boat carrying Annabell rushed toward Calabash Caye, a remote island off Belize. Kellie screamed for a helicopter. One eventually arrived, but it wasn’t a medical aircraft as they had expected. It was a sightseeing helicopter not equipped to handle someone fighting for their life. Other diving guests nearby sprang into action, ripping out the seats to make space for Annabelle, who was on a backboard.

Annabelle and her mom finally got on the helicopter and flew back to the main island. On that day, Annabelle lost her leg — but not her spirit.

“She was so strong,” Kellie says. “She never lost consciousness the entire time.”

A long road to healing after amputation

After the attack, Annabelle underwent an emergency amputation of her right leg through the knee on the mainland in Belize and was stable. Providers then airlifted her to Miami, where she spent the next month undergoing multiple surgeries and revisions for her amputation.

Doctors worked to preserve as much function in Annabelle’s hands as possible, although she still has limited finger movement and will require more surgeries.  

“It was so hard to see her go through it,” Kellie says. “But Annabelle’s strength never wavered.”

Back home in Aspen, Colorado, the family hoped life would slowly return to normal. But not long after returning, Kellie noticed an abscess near Annabelle’s amputation site. Tests at their local hospital revealed an infection. She had to undergo another procedure to irrigate and remove the debris. Doctors began to realize, however, that the infection was more serious than they initially thought.

Mycobacterium abscessus interrupts recovery

Annabelle had an incredibly rare infection — Mycobacterium abscessus — one that had never been reported in a child her age with this type of injury. Annabelle’s local doctors in Aspen instantly referred her to the Orthopedic Insitute at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she would spend the next year of her life facing surgeries, treatments and inpatient stays.

“It takes months of treatment and a lot of antibiotics to get it under control,” Kellie says. “It was another shock on top of everything else.”

Annabelle underwent intensive treatment for her infection under the expertise of Julia Sanders, MD, an orthopedic surgeon who helped lead her care team.

“I had only ever heard about this infection in textbooks,” Dr. Sanders says. “When we got the lab culture back, I reached out to experts across the country — many cold calls, the National Institutes of Health, even a rare-diagnosis matching system. Most people had no answers. One surgeon said they’d seen it once with an unfavorable outcome.”

Avoiding further amputation

Dr. Sanders worked closely with our Infectious Disease team and experts at National Jewish Health, one of the top centers in the world for treating complex mycobacterial infections. There was a strong consideration that the team would have to amputate the rest of Annabelle’s leg — all the way up to her hip.

Despite the severity of the infection, Dr. Sanders and the rest of Annabelle’s care team made a bold decision: they would do a limited revision on the amputation and continue aggressive antibiotic therapy instead of a complete hip disarticulation, which would have removed her hip entirely and severely limited her function.

Annabelle ultimately underwent 13 serious procedures, including five surgeries with Dr. Sanders, and has been on antibiotics for more than a year. The lingering infection and attempts to control it have prevented Annabelle from wearing her prosthetic leg until recently. "It's definitely been a journey,” Annabelle says. “There have been a lot of ups and downs.”

Despite all of this, she is moving forward and never gives up.

“The care has been amazing, and I feel like we’re in the best hands,” Kellie says.

During her stay, Annabelle remembers the kindness of her entire care team who kept her spirits high throughout a difficult experience.

“I’m so lucky to have had them,” Annabelle says.

“The fact that she’s here on Earth is really amazing, and we definitely had some angels help us along the way,” Kellie says.

A new future: Recovery from a life-threatening infection

Despite everything, Annabelle isn’t afraid to get back in the ocean. In fact, in the year since her attack, she already has. As soon as caregivers removed her PICC line (a long-term IV for antibiotics), Annabelle planned her next scuba diving trip. No matter what’s happening in her life, the water always calls Annabelle back.

“I feel like I could never not go back in the water,” she says. “I need to face my fears.”

Skiing, another activity Annabelle loved before the attack, has also returned to her life. Thanks to the Challenge Aspen Foundation, she was able to hit the slopes again using adaptive equipment.

Fueled by her resilience and a desire to help others, Annabelle isn’t just reclaiming her favorite activities — she’s thinking bigger, and her vision for the future is as strong as her will to recover. Annabelle hopes to start a foundation focused on improving emergency preparedness in remote areas. She also wants to expand access to CPR and first aid training.

“It’s important that this type of situation doesn’t happen to someone else,” she says.

That drive to make a difference has already begun to take shape. She recently attended the Limb Differences and Amputee Fair at Children’s Colorado co-hosted by Dr. Sanders, and felt a pull to give back. Seeing younger children face similar challenges made something click.

“I just want to tell them that they can do it too,” she says. She hopes to one day start a camp or support program for kids with amputations.

Annabelle knows she’s one of the lucky people and she wants to make a difference for those who aren’t. A lot of families can’t afford prosthetics or continuous healthcare after an amputation, and she wants other amputees to have the same chances she has gotten.

And she’s not done growing.

“I’m motivated to progress more socially, academically and physically,” Annabelle says. The lingering infection has held her back at times, but it hasn’t slowed her purpose.

“I’m just happy I’m alive and doing as well as I am,” she says.

Her goal now: to spread her story.

“Sharing her story and helping inspire others is a huge part of her recovery,” Kellie says.

Children’s Colorado continues to oversee and facilitate Annabelle’s care, including prosthetics management as she grows and remains active. Dr. Sanders even rode in the Courage Classic fundraising event in Annabelle’s honor, helping to raise thousands of dollars for pediatric orthopedic research.

“I just can’t wait to see her out on the lacrosse field, back in the water and thriving in life,” Dr. Sanders says. “She’s an incredible kid and I’m so excited to see what she will do in the future with her passion for giving back.”

“I’m not fully recovered,” Annabelle says. “But I am thriving.”