{"id":21578,"date":"2025-08-05T15:33:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=21578"},"modified":"2025-08-05T15:33:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:33:22","slug":"3-years-after-shark-attack-young-boy-recalls-how-god-saved-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/08\/3-years-after-shark-attack-young-boy-recalls-how-god-saved-him.html","title":{"rendered":"3 Years After Shark Attack, Young Boy Recalls How God Saved Him"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Left: Jameson Reeder | Right: Fox News Digital<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 2022, the unimaginable happened to Jameson Reeder Jr. Then 10 years old, Jameson Jr. was snorkeling in the Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area in the Florida Keys with his GoPro, trying to capture footage of a turtle, when he was suddenly attacked by a 9-foot bull shark. Jameson Jr. soon found himself in the fight for his life. \u201cOnce it started shaking me, it yanked my head back,\u201d he told a local outlet<\/a>. Jameson\u2019s father, Jameson Reeder Sr., was snorkeling with his son at the time of the attack and had just surfaced to tell his other son, Nehemiah, about the turtle when he heard Jameson screaming. \u201cOnce we get Jameson on to the boat, that’s when we see the unbelievable damage and know he has just been viciously attacked by a massive shark,” he recalled to Fox News Digital<\/em><\/a>. “And we have not seen the shark. It snuck up \u2013 it was hunting essentially \u2013 and came out of nowhere.”<\/p>\n

Jameson Sr. was soon faced with the very real possibility that his son might be dying. \u201cJameson’s leg below the knee was essentially gone. All that was there was the tibia bone, the main bone, and it had sharp teeth marks all over it. The fibula, the outer, smaller bone, was gone. All the flesh, all the muscle, everything, and then just attached at the bottom of the tibia bone was his foot. Below the knee to the foot, nothing.\u201d Jameson Jr. would ultimately have a portion of his leg amputated. Now 13, he uses a prosthetic and has had six surgeries, with more planned as he grows. The Reeder family, however, has leaned on their faith during the entire ordeal.<\/p>\n

The family has published a book about their experience, entitled Rescue at the Reef: The Miraculous True Story of a Little Boy with Big Faith<\/em>. While promoting the book on Good Morning America<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> Jameson Jr. spoke about what it was like getting back in the water after the attack. \u201cI was a little scared before I jumped in,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI wanted to go in and for a split two seconds, it was like a whole flashback of the whole shark attack just because of the environment of the whole reef. But I knew I had the Lord and so, I popped up and I just had a lot of fun.\u201d Jameson Jr. has even returned to baseball. \u201cI\u00a0was a pitcher before the shark attack and I’m trying to get back to it. I’ve had some tough times and pain through some baseball games. But with how good prosthetics are getting, I actually have no more pain now playing baseball,\u201d he said. Jameson Jr.\u2019s mother, Mary, spoke of her son\u2019s resilience. \u201cHe blows our mind every day. It’s been almost three years. He gets up every day and puts that leg on like nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 2022, the unimaginable happened to Jameson Reeder Jr. Then 10 years old, Jameson Jr. was snorkeling in the Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area in the Florida Keys with his GoPro, trying to capture footage of a turtle, when he was suddenly attacked by a 9-foot bull shark. Jameson Jr. soon found himself in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":21581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\n3 Years After Shark Attack, Young Boy Recalls How God Saved Him<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After surviving a brutal shark attack, 13-year-old Jameson Reeder Jr. leans on faith, returns to baseball, and shares his story of courage.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2025\/08\/3-years-after-shark-attack-young-boy-recalls-how-god-saved-him.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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