The household of a New York lady who suffered horrific accidents in a shark assault at New York’s Rockaway Seashore say they’re struggling to afford her medical payments.
Tatyana Koltunyuk, 65, turned the primary individual to be attacked by a shark at a New York Metropolis seaside in practically 70 years when she was bitten whereas swimming in shallow waters on 7 August.
Her daughter Dasha Koltunyuk advised Good Morning America {that a} police officer who stopped the bleeding with a makeshift tourniquet had most likely saved her mom’s life.
A physician who operated on Tatyana at Jamaica Hospital advised the household it was the biggest chunk he had ever seen, Dasha added.
“He was simply type of in awe of it, in awe that she survived that,” Dasha Koltunyuk advised GMA. “I believe the truth that she’s alive is a miracle.”
Tatyana has undergone seven surgical procedures and nonetheless has a minimum of yet one more, her daughter mentioned final week.
She faces years of expensive rehabilitation and bodily remedy, her daughter mentioned.
A GoFundme web page arrange by the household had raised $92,000 by Thursday, which they hope will attain a goal of $150,000.
Recalling the 7 August assault, Dasha Koltunyuk advised GMA that her recently-retired mom had taken the hour-long subway experience to Rockaway Seashore as she did most days.
Tatyana felt one thing “stumble upon her, laborious”, and noticed the shark’s “inexperienced and soiled” enamel whereas staring immediately into its eyes as she swam late within the afternoon, her daughter mentioned.
“She described taking a look at its eyes very vividly and simply seeing it. She virtually describes it as being mischievous, virtually like an adolescent spirit,” Dasha advised ABC’s flagship morning information present.
The shark, which Tatyana is satisfied was an ideal white, then attacked, and the water rapidly turned purple with blood.
Regardless of her horrific accidents which have left her with a everlasting incapacity, Dasha mentioned her mom was no stranger to overcoming adversity.
Tatyana immigrated to the US from Ukraine after the breakup of the Soviet Union within the early Nineties when Dasha was simply three years outdated.
Her husband died of a coronary heart assault inside a number of weeks of their arrival, and Tatyana was unable to search out work as a marine engineer as a result of language barrier.
On the fundraising web page, Dasha wrote that her “beloved, beautiful, and heroic mom” labored tirelessly to make sure she had the very best training.
“My husband and I’ll do every part in our energy to make her retirement as snug and pleasant as we probably can, however the street forward will likely be extraordinarily difficult for her and for our household,” Dasha wrote.
In line with the World Shark Assault File, it was the primary shark assault in New York Metropolis since 1958.
There have been 10 deadly shark assaults in the US prior to now decade. Six occurred on Maui, two in California, and one every in Massachusetts and Maine.