Teen Shark Attack Survivor Says What’s Inside ‘Defines Who You Are’

Published: January 23, 2026

By India McCarty

Lulu Gribbin, the teen survivor of a brutal shark attack, reminds us that it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

“The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is from my mom,” Gribbin said while appearing on Sadie Robertson Huff’s “WHOA That’s Good” podcast. “And it’s ‘What you look like does not define you. It’s who you are on the inside that defines who you are.’”

The teenager explained that this was “a very crucial piece of advice” for her, especially during her early days at the hospital.

“I had just lost my leg and my arm, and I was struggling,” Gribbin said. “Like, ‘Am I going to be the weird girl? Are people still going to like me? Am I going to have friends?’ And then she told me that and it kind of just rested in my mind, and I just have stuck with it throughout my whole journey.”

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Gribbin was attacked by a shark while on a mother-daughter beach trip with a group of friends. She lost her arm and leg, but the 16-year-old chose to focus on the positives.

“There were so many other patients that were in worse conditions than me and that didn’t even have the option to do half the stuff that I was doing,” she told PEOPLE. “They would do anything in the world to be in my position. So I was just grateful that I had the option to do what they were teaching.”

Her mother, Ann Blair Gribbin, added, “You felt just grateful that Lulu had a brain and she is herself. She just doesn’t have an arm and a leg like that. I mean, but she is her same self.”

Now, Gribbin is putting her focus on the Lulu Strong Foundation, which she started to “advance prosthetic technologies and cutting-edge therapies that aim to restore independence and confidence for amputees at speeds we previously never thought were possible,” per the foundation’s website.

“We want to do more than just virtual reality. We want to raise money for the improvement of technology,” Ann Blair said. “Really, the goal of the foundation outside of virtual reality is to raise funds for research, technology and innovation within the amputee space.”

Gribbin and her family have also successfully advocated for “Lulu’s Law,” a shark attack alert system in Alabama that unanimously passed the U.S. Senate and is awaiting approval in the House.

Gribbin’s story is a reminder that our actions and character matter far more than our physical appearance.

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