16-year-old victim talks about shark attack, keeps positive perspective

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) —  The 16-year-old boy seriously injured in the second of Sunday’s shark attacks at Oak Island is talking about the day that changed his life forever.

The bite amputated Hunter Treschl’s left arm below the shoulder.

Two days after the attack, from his room at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Hunter spoke on camera about the attack, the rescue and the medical staff who is caring for him.

“I was with my cousin,” Treschl said. “We were in about waist-deep water. We were just playing around in the waves, and I felt a hit on my left calf. I thought it felt like a big fish, and I started moving away, and then the shark bit my arm -off. My cousin pulled me out of the water and got me on the beach.”

Treschl said he felt the shark hit him a couple of times before he actually saw it.

“I felt it hit me on the left leg, like a big fish kind of hit you or something. Then I felt it one more time, then it hit my arm. That was the first time I saw it, when it was biting up my left arm,” Hunter said. “Then he got that off eventually. I don’t know if he swam away, but I was able to move. With the help of my cousin, I made it up onto the beach.”

Despite what happened, Treschl is keeping a positive attitude.

“I’ve lost my arm, obviously, so I have two options,” he said. “I can try to live my life the way I was and make an effort to do that even though I don’t have an arm, or I can just let this be completely debilitating and bring my life down and ruin it. Out of those two, there’s really only one that I would actually choose and that’s to try to fight and live a normal life with the cards I’ve been dealt.”

You can see more of Treschl’s interview tonight on WWAY NewsChannel 3 after Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

Click here for WWAY’s coverage of the Oak Island shark attacks