Craig 0:01 I have two older brothers. My oldest brother Brian is about nine years older than me and my middle brother Zachary is about 18 months older than me, my oldest brother, Brian and I, he was, you know, almost 10 years older than me. And so growing up whenever we went on family vacations, Brian never really worked with us.

Caitlin Van Mol 0:20 But the summer of 2005 was different. Zachary decided to stay home. And 25 year old Brian and his very pregnant wife joined 16 year old crag and their parents in Cape Sandglass, Florida, about an hour south of Panama City in the Florida Panhandle. We

Craig 0:40 had never been to this place before. But I remember when we got there, it was not a touristy town, the place we were staying at had, you know, a couple of fishing poles, maybe a couple of floaties. And that was pretty much it. So I think on the first couple of days, we went to the bait shop that was in town. And then we got the bait that we were going to fly fishing with which was frozen shrimp on

Caitlin Van Mol 1:07 Monday, June 27 2005. There third day there. The weather wasn't great. It was windy and overcast. But the boys were happy to spend their day fishing again.

Craig 1:19 Oh, I would say 40 or 50 feet out from the shore was the sandbar before you got to San Bartik it kind of dipped down into a little gully which on me. At the time, I was probably six one and a would get up to my neck, which when you're standing on the sandbar is probably only a foot or a foot and a half d and so we would drop down and stand up on the sandbar and cast out. We had no idea what we were fishing for by any means. But we did that for a few times. And then Brian Kotla. And that was like a foot and a half long. And I'm I'm a pretty competitive person. And so that just really upset me. But more so I was wanting to go back out there immediately. And so we rebated and walking out while we were walking out Brian is about 10 or 15 feet to my right, we're getting into the gully and so for me the water would probably right above my belly button. And the water is murky and you know you can really do stick your hand in the water and it's only half a foot before it disappears. And so out of the blue, something just comes up and and just kind of punches me and my left leg just on the thigh. Just a punch. And I didn't see anything. So I you know I get this hit on my left thigh and I immediately just jump back and yell what was that? Something hit me on my left leg and then something grabbed me on my right leg. It took me underwater immediately.

Caitlin Van Mol 2:44 This is live to tell the podcast where I talk to some of the bravest people who have been through the most horrifying things and lived to tell the tale. I'm Caitlin van mol

Craig 3:01 what I remember was closing my eyes and telling myself Greg, this is a dream you need to wake up right now. Simultaneously occurring at that time was this sensation of like intense shaking pressure. That it was just kind of a whole body not necessarily numbing feeling but almost like a like an intense vibration, like pressure. And but I'm like still in myself like Hey, Greg, this is a dream you need to wake up, Brian to my ride was able to actually see the fin of the shark slip up when it took me underwater. And so he immediately knew what it was.

Caitlin Van Mol 3:43 He wasn't just a shark. It was a bull shark. A very aggressive species that hangs out in murky shallow waters.

Craig 3:52 And then that seemed like it was whatever a couple seconds long and then that's when I you know came up out of the water I make eye contact with my brother was you know 10 feet to my right. Know what Brian describes as the shark essentially started dragging me out towards the ocean but in the direction of Brian and so I started coming out and then Brian basically just swam and caught us off and during this time he's swinging he has the fishing pole and it breaks and you know that goes away but Brian's a lifeguard grabs me under my arm during this time you know I'm I'm screaming bloody murder. All I see is just bright red bubbly water right under me. I don't see anything. I still don't know what it is. At one point while we are doing this. For whatever reason I thought it was a good idea that like I need to get whatever this is offering.

Caitlin Van Mol 4:53 Bull sharks have rows of sharp needle like teeth and their bottom jaw and wide triangular, still very sharp teeth on the top. And

Craig 5:04 so I just take my hands and put my hands under the water. And it's not just half a second later, I bring my hands up and I look at both my hands and they're just completely, you know, shredded open,

Caitlin Van Mol 5:15 because it's not registering. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 5:17 that is a shark. No, no, I

Caitlin Van Mol 5:19 just think it's something

Craig 5:21 that is that's causing this. Yeah, whatever it is, I put my hands on her and I bring them up and they're, they're shredded open, but they're not bleeding. It's just like, clear flesh, which is really weird. Again, I'm, I'm 16 years old, I don't I don't know anything about anatomy or biology, whatever. But so I'm sorry, that's weird. I'm still feeling this intense kind of pressure. And so we get to the we get to a couple feet of water, my dad and another guy at this point, you know, they run out to the water grabbed me by my arm, a crowd is gathering because they hear they're hearing me scream in the ocean. It's the shark is still on me at this point. So what had happened was it essentially it was just like biting up and down on my leg and not necessarily pulling against us. And so it was just like kind of swimming along with us for the ride.

Caitlin Van Mol 6:16 And just like gnawing on you. And

Craig 6:18 so it was about the time we got to two feet of water, like Brian like sees the head of the shark in the water and just punches that a few times. And it lets go and swims away. And that's history for the sharp. And so, you know, he's a bride's exhausted. Now, one, you know, something I have just a vivid memory of that day. I do remember Brian is just on his hands and knees, you know, in a fetal position on the ground just because he's exhausted. He just essentially just swam that way to me in a sharp

Caitlin Van Mol 6:50 cracks dad and the other man pulled crag up onto the beach. Luckily, there was a group of nurses on the beach that went into action mode. I

Craig 7:01 remember, some women put press press it on my leg, which I didn't feel anything other than a shock sensation up until then once someone started putting pressure on my leg that was really excruciating pain. And

Caitlin Van Mol 7:17 what is the state of your leg at this point?

Craig 7:21 So it didn't touch the bone. So my boat like I didn't have any fractures or breaks in bones from the shark itself. The nurses there they were, they were just on vacation. But they put a tourniquet on my leg. They saw that I'm sure it was squirting blood, when they were when they were switching off holding pressure. But they did that they did what they're supposed to do. They were the ones that kept me leaning out. Like when I look back and say like, how did I survive that day? Like, clearly a lot of people helped me start with my brother, because I wouldn't have made it back to the shore. But they helped pressure they stopped me from bleeding out to death, right? At that time, I didn't again, I didn't see my work. The only ones I saw was my hands. So I'm on my back. I am gasping for air at the time. I didn't know that I was bleeding to death. I was bleeding to death. And I was just losing all that oxygen. So I'm just painting. Barely, barely. My mom and dad are to my head. They're noticeably upset, crying and everything.

Caitlin Van Mol 8:26 And are you thinking like I'm dead? Or what's going through your mind?

Craig 8:33 It i I've had like very minor injuries that I've had broken bones growing up, you know, had my teeth knocked out whatever. But I was never thinking like, Oh, this is a this is something that I may die from. At that moment. It was just too much going on. I'm lucky that this is not in a time of social media because I don't know how I would like it. If there were people that were just like TIG talking this. I don't know if I would be able to cope with what happened if I actually saw footage of that. I don't know how I was gonna be back. On the VISIT

Caitlin Van Mol 9:12 FLORIDA website. Cape sandblast is described as a secluded piece of paradise, which is lovely until you need a level one trauma center to treat your shark bites.

Craig 9:26 So Amy, let's get there quickly. There wasn't a hospital that's a level one trauma center anywhere near there. Panama City was the closest I think it was probably 50 or 100. This one of these 50 or 100 miles from Panama City. It's 50 They were going to lifeline. So I'm in the ambulance. I'm waiting on the helicopter to the helicopter. We're supposed to get there in like five minutes. So the people at the ambulance and other bystanders are like to my parents, you should go ahead and drive to Panama City because the helicopters I gotta be up to take you and it's like an hour drive. So you should go. So you can get there. So they take off and helicopters supposed to get there in five minutes while 45 minutes later and finally shows up. During this time I'm starting to get sleepy. I remember like, you know, I was getting sleepy, but my best friend growing up, had like six concussions throughout the years while we were playing sports. And so I remember after every concussion, like they were always, they always told us to they don't let him go to sleep, keep them awake, like, Okay, I just need to stay awake. Like, they told me not to let my friend go to sleep. So I'll back up. So the helicopter shows. By this time, I'm sure they're giving. They're giving me medicine, which is probably why I'm sleepy. But I remember this helicopter is just like, really tight space. I'm strapped into a board. All I remember at that point was I asked them if it was okay if I go to sleep. And they said, Yeah, and so at that point, I went to sleep. They fly me to Panama City, they I get to Panama City at the same time my parents are arriving. So they actually like find it pretty well with the delay of the helicopter. They rushed me in Ely to surgery. My parents, I don't think really understood the severity of the situation either. Even being there watching witnessing it. Because my mom recounts that it. She's sitting there as like, oh my gosh, is is he going to be able to play basketball next. But doctor,

Caitlin Van Mol 11:31 doctors came in and broke the news that No, Craig would not be playing basketball anytime soon. While in surgery, Craig's doctors made the life saving decision to amputate his leg. And,

Craig 11:46 you know, she has no idea until the surgeon comes out that like they didn't even come in to ask them what to do. It was you know, life or limb at that point, there's not any option, but it didn't touch the ball. Again, this was a bull shark come to find out. And so when it it was basically just too much tissue damage. And so when it bit me, one of the probably first bites was it, it was been my femoral artery. And so early on, I was just pumping blood out from this from this tear. And so there was just too much tissue damage and not any options. And so, you know, they, they tell my parents what's going on, they had a potato leg, I wake up, and I would take this back tomorrow if I could, or today if I could, but I, my mom's beside me. And I immediately I looked at my mom and I say, Mom, please don't let them take my leg.

Caitlin Van Mol 12:40 But they already had. And Craig's mom just couldn't bring herself to tell him.

Craig 12:47 I really shouldn't have said that. Because I knew I'm laying on my back. And I had I'm not able to sit up and look down and see what they did. I knew but I shouldn't have asked that. She breaks down, doesn't know what to say to me. And so she stands up and walks out. And then so we're we were Catholic. And so the priest from one of the local churches, they're there. She had him come in to tell me what's going on. And I asked what you would expect, I think, how I took it, I think, initially, I'm sitting there thinking that I'm 16 I play three sports, I hang out with my friends, I'm going to go dating and everything. And I'm like, oh, that's just rude at that point. And so I would totally say that for the first. I would say for at least the first like week, I was probably not fun to be around. Brian would probably tell you that. I'm very nice with a nice way. But yeah, I would say of course I was depressed, if that's what you want to call it. I was mad. You know, I was wondering like, why? What did I do in my life to deserve this? On

Caitlin Van Mol 13:59 top of that, during the first week in the hospital, Craig was having a surgery every other day. So

Craig 14:07 I had the big surgery. They let me recover the next day. And then the next day, I probably had like a debris meant on my leg because they because sharp, you know infection so they initially amputated and then they have to take off a little bit more to breathe, what this tissue that could be infected. So they do that. There's a hand surgeon that's there that, you know, my longest surgery was, I think it was 14 hour surgery. And that was all my hands.

Caitlin Van Mol 14:34 And during all this, Craig had a very big question that just wasn't being answered.

Craig 14:41 This whole time. I would still ask every like new health care person that walked in the door. If I was going to survive. I would ask that multiple times to multiple people every day. Because I never once got an answer. Absolutely like yeah, you're gonna live not once and that's what I think freaked me out the most because early on like I get it like I had no idea like, they know what else was survived the surgery. I lost all this blood like what kind of brain damage I'm gonna have? That was a big question. They didn't know if I was gonna have to have my left hand amputated because I was really bad. That was the worst of them. To

Caitlin Van Mol 15:18 add insult to injury, Craig celebrated his 17th birthday in the Panama City Hospital. But some familiar faces came down from Tennessee to celebrate with him.

Craig 15:30 I was very thankful that they did that means a lot. Absolutely. But my birthday, I know, I wasn't fun to be around. I remember like, like, I whatever, and people were getting the guests and I'm just I wasn't happy. Finally, Brian, my brother was like, you need you need to suck it up is what he said I quit being to quit being a baby and the nicest way from there. He's right. Like, what what happened would happen? I think, you know, after a week or two I want to by no means that I accept it 100% I think it just was like starting the process of like, you know, gaining perspective that I can't change the situation and that I can you know, go this road and try to improve my life in other ways. Or I could go down this road and maybe get into addiction and sulking and being depressed and when I'm feeling sorry for myself, I guess so I think after my birthday and after he was like people drove eight hours just to come see let's say happy birthday and like you're treating them like this like you need to step your game up a little bit. So they got that was kind of a turning point. But it really did help though that his birthday gift to me was a game. It was like a Game Boy that again, I can't use my hands. Couldn't like bandaged up and that's the gift he gives me like this. Not tasteful. Not tasteful.

Caitlin Van Mol 16:51 Did he Did he open it and play with it?

Craig 16:54 Oh, he did? Yeah, he did not guarantee probably got it so he could play with it.

Caitlin Van Mol 16:57 But there was a storm a Brewin. Literally, Hurricane Dennis was heading right to the Panhandle. So they transferred Craig to Vanderbilt University Medical Center close to Craig's home. After he got to Vanderbilt, the surgeries continued. I've

Craig 17:16 entered about I think maybe I had two or three more surgeries. With the final one being like a skin graft that they put on the bottom of a residual.

Caitlin Van Mol 17:27 What is the pain like I really

Craig 17:30 was never in pain. Fortunately, I had a PCA pump. So where you had a button that you can press, you're not supposed to have that all people that can't press the button. So I couldn't press the button because my hands were abandoned by my mom who had access to this. And I think she press was pressing that like, like, no other Jeopardy buzzer. Yeah. And so I would I do have certain instances in during the hospital really painful events that has, but that's kind of interesting, like outside of someone putting pressure on your leg of like an exposed artery like that hurt. But I would say the worst sensation that I had outside of that was after they said they had to take the donor site for my skin graft came from my left thigh. And so after they took the donor side, on my left side, they put like this yellow gauze type stuff over the wound. And then they wrapped, they wrapped my leg and like the saran wrap kind of stuff. So when the time came days later to take off this dressing. That's all Saran Wrap went from my from my kneecap up into the top of my groin. And that Saran Wrap was like the stickiest tape that you can think of, and they had to take that off. And so every single hair that is from like, your growling, all the way down to the most sensitive part behind your kneecap. Every little thing like they had to do this and it was literally my like leg was bare afterwards. And I was screaming. I was screaming in the hospital because like every single other just rip rip rip. It was just pulling every single hair. That was by far I would rarely get attacked by a shark again, then have to get your legs I don't know how people do that. It was awful. Getting my leg wax was was Yeah. And

Caitlin Van Mol 19:33 the skin graph itself was fine. Oh,

Craig 19:36 it was fine. It was no this was just like them just I think it was the manner in which she was doing it. It was she was only kind of going just a centimeter at a time.

Caitlin Van Mol 19:47 There was a small upside to being attacked by a shark.

Craig 19:51 Oh, I was Yeah, I was famous for for a few minutes you know inside edition primetime. Good Morning America. Uh, we really, really, um, still, if only she lives I hope she listens to this. I don't know what your, what your bandwidth of listeners are. But you know, we waited for so long for Oprah to call and want to do a show on the air because like she grew up like she didn't grow. But she lived in Tennessee and I gone. But then we were hoping for it. Then Tyra Banks called entire as you know, this was when she was doing our show how their competitors have offered and Oprah had. And so we used to come and we went on top of each other. That was a really cool experience. But yeah, it was fun. I mean, like, it kind of definitely opened me out of my shell a little bit like now to this day, like if there's a camera in front of me. Like I'm not as I guess embarrassed for myself. I

Caitlin Van Mol 20:47 didn't all the media stuff get old. Yeah, early on,

Craig 20:51 it did, because my dad really forced me to do a lot of this stuff. And so he was really in the mindset of like, Oh, you went through this tragic accident, you can help a lot of people by telling them the story. The most uncomfortable of them was like when schools or other places that had people my age, like my peers that I had to talk to and share my experience with because I'm like, I have no life experience. Like what am I telling, like, nobody cares about like, or at least that's what no one cares about. They're like, I'm not helping anybody. But yeah, it was interesting, because you know, small town, Lebanon, I could probably go back to today, and walk in the grocery store. And I guarantee you multiple people would like recognize me to this day,

Caitlin Van Mol 21:32 after a few more surgeries at Vanderbilt, credit got a surprise from one of his doctors, the

Craig 21:40 general surgeon or whoever was the attending on my case, think his last name was green. He basically said that I need to be discharged. And I'm like, I still have staples as sutures, I'm still like bandage that they're gonna change three or four times a day, mega we still got a lot of stuff going on. But he realized, like, I'm not getting any better in the hospital, because I'm an active person. And he realized it like you need to be in your home environment. So they were able to set up with like home health. And during this time, I was going through ham therapy, which you know, getting fitted for a prosthetic, doing all that had was on the backburner. And losing a leg from all this sucks. I think equally as bad for in my situation was the inability to use my hands. And for that time, I had to have my mom and dad feed me pull down my pants, white my bottom, they had to do everything. And, and I feel bad for my wife now because she's like, like, she knows my wishes in terms of like, how aggressive like medical care and like what I want for a quality of life to me is vastly different now. Compared to what? I'm sure. Because I think that would be tortures. I am ever in that situation again, where like I am not independent, at least like take care of basic, basic needs. And so that was really tough, especially with maybe 16 years. Yeah. And so they so they did it. And you know, you can imagine, as a parent. What they probably go through what they went through and how they feel today. I I think my dad would I think he would deny it to this day. But I don't believe that my dad thinks I can do anything for myself even now. Like, I think he still lives in this time of 2005 where I'm like helpless. And I'm like needing all this help. I think so. I think unofficially, that was maybe a reason why I moved from Nashville out to Oregon. I always wanted to get away but also like, live next, or live near my parents who think that I'm just capable of doing anything for myself anymore.

Caitlin Van Mol 24:12 Have you talked to them about how this was for them?

Craig 24:19 I think I have I don't know if I've ever got like in a room sit down like a serious like intervention styles sit down discussion with him about I know that my dad and I really we really argued and this was probably like early like, like early 20s. And then as I got older, I think I forgave him for treating me like that. And so we're totally cold out. I don't know if I ever sat down and actually talked with him about it. Yeah, but that's kind of in his older age. He's getting a little bit more emotional. I don't know if he would want to want to go through all that again. But

Caitlin Van Mol 25:00 before he came to terms with his relationship with his parents, Craig had to tackle a different beast, high school.

Craig 25:08 So our school get a year round kind of thing where we did nine weeks of school and then two week break nine weeks, and then it's our school started July 27. And I think I went to school. I think it was exactly a month after my attack. Again, I'm like, hey, there bandaged, like, don't have a leg and you know, but I just like they knew that I wanted and I had a friend I was in a wheelchair. So like my friends like pushed me around. This is like junior year of high school. So I remember my junior year was supposed to be the hardest year like with academics.

Caitlin Van Mol 25:41 Luckily for crag, his best friend's mom worked at the school, she pulled a few strings and got crag transferred to all his friends classes, they

Craig 25:52 get my whole schedule with all the credits that I need to be my friend's schedule, who his junior year is going to be as easy as year of his for your high school. So for whatever, however, I got all my credits and on the end without doing stuff, but back, I'm gonna schedule switched over to my best friends, this guy that had concussion. So his name is John Austin. So like, John Austin was able to push me in a wheelchair. And we pretty much just hung out in the hallway and hung out fans. And then they let us show up a little bit after the bell rang, and they let us leave a little bit before the bell rang. And so our whole junior year was it got like, progressively longer and longer me showing up to class. And like, by the end of the year, I don't think we went to class. But no, it's kind of funny. Like, at this point, you're a little local celebrity and, you know, get a little bit more special treatment. And and I'm not gonna lie, of course, I'm gonna milk that a little bit. If, again, if you're going to give me this handout, I'll take it. But I remember, I was just trying to get accidentally in a normal person at that point. And, you know, I was embarrassed, of course, because like, again, I'm 16 years old, and I don't have a leg. I can't do anything. But that was hard for me to accept. And I think, you know, over time, I mean, time helped. But I realized, like, Yeah, I can't go back to do play basketball, like, like, I use it as much as I want. I'm sure that, you know, early on, I had a goal that my goal was to play it on senior night, like, dress out and have one of the ready prosthetics and click play. Yeah, I thought initially, that's what I wanted. And then I realized, like, I'm not someone that like wants to be for show and like, have like, cameras on me and stuff. And I knew that that would have been a publicity stunt. And I'm like, I would have never been in a competitive level, like, it would have been like, oh, let's get this guy to catch the ball and shoot the ball and smile and take a photo. That's I realized that that's how I was going to be an active adult. But I knew that like, I'm not going to be able to get back to that point in terms of athletics, like I used to. It was kind of sports and it was dating girls, that was that was my focus, you know,

Caitlin Van Mol 28:20 being like a little celebrity. What didn't girls talk to you? Like, are you okay, can I push your wheelchair?

Craig 28:28 They do that if there were cameras. So you tell who's who's your real good friends when when the cameras aren't? Right? Yeah, people do that, like, people will be thirsty like that. But I think as time went on, I realized that like, if I talk to someone that had an issue with it, that's something really I should not be with to begin. And that was pretty easy for me to accept at that point.

Caitlin Van Mol 28:54 As time went on, cracks, hands started to heal. And he went from the wheelchair to an upright Walker, to crutches.

Craig 29:03 By the time I had started getting strong enough to be able to use crutches, I was starting to have enough healing in my leg to start being fit in which getting fitted for a prosthetic like that took a really long time just because of my metabolism was so high at that point, I was still growing, and that I had so much like with that trauma had a lot of fluid shifts in my leg. And so, you know, getting it down to the point of like being able to have one prosthetic one like fitting to like a year, maybe two years to kind of go through different different sockets and different fittings and stuff. So that process it took it took quite a while.

Caitlin Van Mol 29:44 Paralympic triathlete Sarah Reinertsen an actor John C. Giuliano, both above the knee amputee is heard about Craig story and paid him a visit.

Craig 29:56 They were both similar situations where they were You know, active, had these accidents and they remained active afterwards. And I didn't know anything about that. And I felt like my whole life was ruined after this in terms of sporting and so they talked to me about this foundation called the Challenged Athletes Foundation that does sporting events and every year do this half Ironman Triathlon, challenge it San Diego, and that they recommend that go out there to check it out. And I was like, yeah, that'd be sweet. Because you could you could separate the legs and have, you know, one person to the swimming pool personally, the biking, running, as well. That's great, because Brian was always a runner. So he like ran the Boston Marathon time like that's what he does. Zachary started getting into road biking normally perfect. And I hate swimming, but whatever, I'll do swim, because that's the only thing that I thought I could.

Caitlin Van Mol 30:55 So and it's in the ocean, it's

Craig 30:57 in the ocean. And it's the first time I'd be back at the Ocean Club, like, hey, look, whatever it's, you know, different different species of sharks here. Okay, guys, like, it's gonna be a great white shark, I'm not gonna have a fighting chance out here. That was up there, I've done. So

Caitlin Van Mol 31:11 it wasn't like, let's face let's make him face his fears of the water. It was just like, default, I

Craig 31:17 did the swimming because I thought that was the easiest part. Like, I'm not going to do a bike, I'm not definitely going to run. So I thought the swimming would be the easiest. And I just happened to be back. But I have like different species of shark to be hundreds of people around me. It's like, very low chance. And then so I like say that interview. And of course, you know, people online, they know everything. So like one of the immediate like, next comment because I make the comment, like, like, what are the chances of you getting attacked by sharp again, the very first comments like it's exactly the same delta S. All right, thanks. So, but I've come to come to learn, or I, I tell myself that if I ever got attacked by a shark, I'm okay with it. That is God's way of telling me that I'm just not supposed to be honest, are just tiny. I accept the chances of that happening. Okay, yes, they're exactly the same there. So, I, that's what I tell myself. I thought it was gonna be the easiest part for swimming portion was 1.2 Miles swim was like a high five, I really didn't fully. I didn't really understand, like, I'm 17 years old, like, whatever, I thought that I could just do this and say that I trained, not did whatever I trained in a pool. Completely different than swimming in an ocean when I come to find out, you know, I get up to like training, I can swim a mile. And that's where I cut myself off. And I'm like, I'm gonna go on adrenaline on the day, and do the work and finish the point to on adrenaline is, you know, I've never done a triathlon. So the day comes, I get in the water, and I'm like, I need to start like, I'm keeping it together. But I'm freaking out, going like in this water. That's not that you can't see that much. And so as soon as the horn blows, I just take off. And, and I'm like, again, never have done this before. The most amateur person out there that should not be swimming. So I'm like, doing exactly what you're not supposed to do. And I like take off. And I think I lead the group for about five minutes, really far out there. And then immediately I'm exhausted before even making the first turn. And so it was a struggle to do that. 1.2 miles, but we got it done. I didn't get attacked by shark again. I was like sore for the next two weeks. And that was it.

Caitlin Van Mol 33:46 How did you guys deal with him?

Craig 33:50 sacri didn't do bad. So I don't know what a good time it took

Caitlin Van Mol 33:56 me. I have no concept of how long it would take exactly. I

Craig 33:59 don't either. It took me 45 minutes to do opportunites I didn't come into class. I came in like I think I came in. I think Zachary did. He did within a realm of normal person trying to compete in a triathlon. And then Brian, who you would expect he should be the one to you know, be the best. Yeah,

Caitlin Van Mol 34:20 he's just running Boston Marathon like it's nothing though.

Craig 34:24 The worst of the bunch. Like, of course, I'm gonna say anything to whatever our goal was to finish and that's kind of embarrassing if you'd asked me but

Caitlin Van Mol 34:38 Greg made it through the rest of high school. And while he was in college, he started working with Vanderbilt Mechanical Engineering Professor Michael Goldfarb to test a new robotic leg. And

Craig 34:50 the idea behind their prosthesis was that it offered power at the knee and the ankle, and so prosthetics nowadays. like on the market, they're all just, they're passive. So like, they don't provide power when you walk, Vanderbilt knee, they had motors. And so like, when you're like taking a step, these motors would activate the foot. So it would lift the foot. So it act like a calf muscle I did, walking up like a five degree incline was really cool to work with it because it provided power. So like, like right now with my leg, when I'm walking up an incline, like my normal leg is doing all this work. And I'm just like dragging this leg behind me, but their leg like whenever provided power, their knee, though, and their whole leg weight, maybe 15 pounds total, compared to what I weigh right now is about six and a half pounds. And so the batteries are these motors, they're these lithium batteries, I don't think the technology is there yet to have the capacity to a smaller amount of weight. So like the batteries on this new was what had all the great news twice, two times too heavy.

Caitlin Van Mol 36:00 His experience that day on the beach, and the quick life saving response of the vacationing nurses inspired Craig's career path.

Craig 36:10 So I thought I was going to go into like computer science or so something like that in college. But after this, I realized like nurses saved my life. And I just felt that I had to get back in some way. So with that route, got out of school hated nursing,

Caitlin Van Mol 36:26 what kind of like where were you nursing at that point?

Craig 36:30 Yeah, so I got out of school and got a job at the local hospital. So I'm living at home, I'm working at this local hospital that is like, behind the times. That's that's where I'll leave it and, and so it was, you know, the way they the orientation. And the way they onboard me I went from like, not knowing anything to them, like putting me in these roles and responsibilities that were completely unsafe, that I'm just like, kind of in there faking it till I make it kind of situation.

Caitlin Van Mol 37:04 And that's not what one should be doing. And that sort of got, it

Craig 37:09 got to the point like I was dreading going to work. So then I saw that the Vanderbilt program had an additional program, you have to just work for a year, and then you can apply for that. And so I applied for that as early as I could, unfortunately got accepted. And so I got out a Master's at one of the professors. He's already had his PhD and so he was kind of taking me under his wing a little bit. We were involved in a couple of research projects together. So I did he gets offered this director position in Portland, Oregon, at the academic hospital, and he was like, hey, there's a position open in the neuro ICU there on the ICU team, we should apply for it. And so randomly applied, and they flew me out here and offered me a job and I was like, Sure, why not? So I moved out here. Just live here for a free year and I met my wife here it's history. Being

Caitlin Van Mol 38:08 in Portland, Oregon, it's closer for crags young family to vacation in the clear blue waters of Hawaii than the Gulf of Mexico. And with the 20th anniversary of the attack coming up in 2025 cracks wife is already planning a celebration

Craig 38:26 my wife every year does the sharp anniversary for me you know I tell her is it just reminds me the worst day of my life but it's all fun and games like I don't have PTSD or

Caitlin Van Mol 38:36 what of past shark aversary is entailed

Craig 38:39 typically she'll she'll throw a party with a lot of our neighbors and friends last year she got me a a shark blow up so so we have for Halloween decorations we have a we have like a shark riding a pumpkin or whatever and so she got the Christmas where it's saying a riding a shark blow up so she got me that but we really it's just like a house party we have

Caitlin Van Mol 39:07 Yeah, well that's fun. You make fun out a bit

Craig 39:12 I guess nothing to celebrate. You know, like all things considering what happened that day. I probably should have been here but yes, celebrate.

Caitlin Van Mol 39:23 This is live to tell. I'm Caitlin van mol. You can follow the show on Instagram and Tiktok at live to tell podcast. If you enjoy today's episode, please rate review and subscribe. It really helps the show. I'll see you in two weeks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai