Photo provided Belpre resident Connor Baker, center, was in the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach last week after being bitten by a shark. He had to have surgery to repair four severed tendons. He is pictured with his girlfriend Haley Moore, right, and her brother Hunter Moore, left, who helped get him out of the water immediately after the incident happened.

BELPRE – A shark put the bite on a Belpre man during a recent Florida trip.

Connor Baker, 21, of Belpre, is back home recovering after an encounter with a shark on July 4 while in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., that left him with four severed tendons in his right foot.

Baker was at the beach on vacation with his mother, his girlfriend, her brother and her mother in the area located south of Daytona Beach.

They had just seen his mother, Melinda, off as she was flying back home when Baker, his girlfriend Haley and her brother Hunter decided to go to the beach after having lunch. Around 4 p.m., Baker and Hunter were passing a football around as they were in shallow water along the beach.

“We were out in the water for about five minutes, in knee deep or mid-thigh deep water,” he said. “I jumped to catch the ball. I came down on my left foot and my right foot hadn’t even touched bottom yet and it felt like something clamped down on my (right) foot.

“It felt like something stabbed it on both sides, the top and bottom of it. My instant reaction was I yanked my foot up and froze for a half second and it was the shock and realization that I just got bit by something. I didn’t even look, I dropped the ball and somehow I made it to (Hunter). I hopped/hobbled towards him and he ran towards me and I told him that I think I got bit.”

They got to shore and from there people began helping out, an ambulance was called and he was taken to the emergency room. He credits Hunter with getting him out of the water.

“I think most of my foot was in the shark’s mouth which is kind of crazy to think about,” he said.

Baker was bitten just below his ankle and had lacerations on the bottom of his foot near the arch.

When it happened he yanked up his foot which caused additional lacerations on his last three toes.

In addition to the severed tendons, there was also minor damage to his plantar fascia, tissue in the foot used during walking and foot movement.

He was taken to the Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach where they have experience treating injuries and trauma caused by aquatic animals.

Baker said his four severed tendons required surgery which occurred that night and lasted over four hours.

He was told by medical personnel that the shark miraculously missed a specific nerve which could have caused a lot more physical damage.

Originally, doctors thought one tendon was severed and they were planning only for an hour’s surgery, but they discovered the others and the operation took longer. They also had to clean out the sea water from the wound and any related bacteria.

He was in the hospital from Thursday to Saturday morning.

As for the shark itself, Baker did not even get a glance at it.

“I never saw it and I am kinda glad I didn’t,” he said.

His family was definitely in shock when receiving the news he had been bitten by a shark.

“There was a lot of shock and a lot of panic,” Baker said, adding there was some reassurance that he was down there with his girlfriend who is a nurse and her family. There was stress with them not being there, but that dissipated once he was able to talk with them over FaceTime and when he made it back home Sunday and they realized he was going to be fine.

Melinda Baker said she was “an absolute chaotic stressful mess” when she got the call.

“I wasn’t even off the plane when I landed when I got the call,” she said. “At first I was freaking out and cried most of the way home from the airport.”

She was initially told the injury wasn’t that bad, but when the doctors knew the full extent of the injury and he started bleeding again and had to have the surgery so all the tendons could be repaired it “heightened all my anxiety.”

“However it was a good thing they did as that’s when they realized the extent of the damage,” she said of the original surgery and the extended session which was actually required.

“I was never so relieved to speak with his surgeon late that night,” she said. “I was able to speak with Connor and FaceTimed nonstop with him which did help somewhat.

“Once I knew he was out of surgery and it went well to say his dad and I were relieved is an understatement. He might be 21 but he’s still a little boy in my eyes.”

She was thankful for Haley and her family for being there for her son.

“I am beyond thankful for them,” she said. “His girlfriend Haley is a nurse and was right there with him every second never leaving his side. She has been such a gift to our family before but even more so now.”

She was also thankful and grateful to Hunter for getting him out of the water.

Their mother Tammy did a lot of things from running back and forth to the hospital to arranging special seating arrangements on the flight home, getting him a wheelchair reserved, getting him food, clothes and more.

“On top of this she was updating me at literally every move,” Melinda Baker said. “Between Tammy and Haley I almost felt like I was there. I will never be able to thank Haley and her family enough, ever.”

Since returning home, Baker has been in the process of recovering with Haley by his side. She was with him in the hospital and has been with him since getting back to Ohio.

“Her support has been great,” Baker said. “She has not left my side.”

He will be seeing a local orthopedic surgeon this week to look at his foot.

“I can’t do anything with my foot for four weeks,” Baker said. “Even at four weeks, I can just rotate my ankle around.”

He is planning to have physical therapy due to the tendons being damaged. At around 6-8 weeks he should be able to do light weight bearing where he can put his foot on the ground with the use of crutches as a guide. After another 4-6 weeks, he hopes to be able to walk on his own.

“It is going to be around three months before I am fully recovered,” he said.

During all of this, he will be figuring out how he will be finishing his senior year at Ohio University where he is studying to be a teacher.

He has been commuting to school and he won’t be able to drive. He is also scheduled to begin his student teaching at Fort Frye High School this fall and then have regular classes.

“It will be a bit of an issue,” Baker said. “I am hoping my professors can work with me and I can find a way to do online classes until my foot is good enough to drive or get a ride there.”

He is also hoping he will have a way to get to and from Fort Frye. He is hoping he will find a way to be able to use his crutches at the school and possibly be able to use a stool while he is teaching.

“It will be a little bit of an issue if I can’t find accommodations early on,” Baker said. “I am hoping I will be back to normal or close to normal where I can walk and drive.

“I am hoping to be back on my own pace and on my own schedule before the end of the semester.”

Shark attacks are always something Baker had heard happening, but it was always someone else. He never believed it could happen to him.

“Now it is me,” he said. “It is crazy even when I hear my mom and dad say `Connor was bit by a shark’ or when I tell someone it doesn’t sound real.

“There is still some shock about it but it has made me realize that anything can happen so don’t take anything for granted either.”

He is telling people to respect the time they have. For the time being, he won’t be doing some of the things he likes to do, like playing pickup basketball, playing tennis or going to the gym and really challenging himself there.

“Appreciate those little things,” he said.

As far as the ocean is concerned, Baker may have had his fill for the time being.

“I will definitely not be going back into the water for a while, maybe never,” he said.

However, with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel this week, he joked about tuning in for some of it when asked.

“Of course, I was the opener,” he said with a laugh.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com