Anine-year-old shark attack victimis able to move her fingers following a surgery to reattach her nearly-severed hand, according to a statement from the family. Leah Lendel underwent the surgery at Tampa General Hospital June 11, where doctors inserted pins to stabilize her broken bones and transferred arteries from her leg to help restore blood flow to her hand, her mother Nadiawrote in a statement to The Tampa Bay Times. USA TODAY reached out to the Lendel family for the statement June 15 and did not receive an immediate response. The mother posted onsocial media June 13that Leah could move all of her fingers, noting that doctors determined that Leah did not need sedation to recover. "The doctors were able to do some miracles and put her hand back together," her uncle, Max Derinsky,told NBC News. "She will be in the hospital for a while and then a lot of physical therapy to hopefully get her hand functioning again." The girl was swimming in the ocean off of Boca Grande, Florida with other family members around noon local time on June 11 when she was bit, Boca Grande Fire Chief C.W. Blossersaid in a social media video. Emergency personnel responded to the scene, and she was airlifted to a local hospital, Blosser said. "The person was in the water at the time the bite occurred with other family members," he said. "They were able to get her out of the water and get her up on actually to the road." Blosser said the girl is the first swimmer bitten by a shark in the area in two decades. In 2024, there were 14 unprovoked shark bites in Florida, the most of any state, according to theFlorida Museum of Natural History. "These occurrences are limited, but there always is a potential," Blosser said. "I don't think it's a cause for alarm at this point." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Florida shark attack victim can move fingers again, family says
