Kauai lifeguard was off duty<\/a> when he decided to go surfing at a spot he frequents just outside of Hanalei Bay. After about 20 minutes in the water, and two good waves, he was setting up to catch another set when it happened.<\/p>\n\u201cNext thing you know, something is just chopping down on my leg with so much force. I (couldn\u2019t) see it, I couldn\u2019t see where it was coming from, but I just knew it was a shark,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Adrenaline, and his faith kicked in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lifted my leg up and I just … like \u2018Oh no,\u2019 and I said my prayers to Jesus Christ. I believe in God and he saved me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For the next few minutes, he clung to his surfboard, trying to get the attention of those on shore, but was quickly growing weak until his fellow lifeguards Matt Milbrand and Kawai Davis came to his rescue.<\/p>\n
Once I heard the ski bumping on the water, I thought I have a chance here,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was terrifying but I couldn\u2019t feel a thing and my game plan was just to stay awake and try and make it visible to someone that I needed help. I was losing my vision. I was … really weak. I tried to tie my own tourniquet, and I couldn\u2019t do it. I was so weak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But it was a tourniquet tied by first responders that doctors say saved his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bite actually severed the main artery and vein going into that lower leg, and he lost quite a bit of blood, both in the process of getting off at the beach and in his surgeries,\u201d Queen\u2019s ICU and Trauma Surgeon Dylan Davey, M.D., said. <\/p>\n
Swanson has already undergone a handful of surgeries, and a few more are planned. But his doctors are optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s young healthy. He has the best attitude so he has the best recovery potential and the best rehabilitation potential,\u201d Queen\u2019s Plastic Surgeon Peter Deptula, M.D. said. <\/p>\n
Through all of this, Swanson remains both positive and faithful, saying that this hasn\u2019t changed his love for the ocean. And one day he hopes to get back in the water to do what he loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah I\u2019m looking forward to getting back to a normal life riding and surfing and I think the Queen\u2019s staff will help me get there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Dr. Deptula added, \u201cI think he\u2019s on the right track. We got a little bit of work to do and we\u2019re gonna stay vigilant with his case. You know we\u2019re not gonna celebrate till again until he\u2019s walking out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swanson and his family also expressed great appreciation to the first responders, medical staff, and those who sent prayers and donations. His GoFundMe has raised more than $180,000. <\/a><\/p>\nAnd if being near death taught him anything, it\u2019s this:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like a mental block almost to tell my friends that I love them, and now it\u2019s just it\u2019s super easy to tell him I love em.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Wednesday, Nov. 5, started out as a productive day for 33-year-old Chance Swanson. \u201cI got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[23416,23420,23417,23418,9,24,63,122,124,123,23419],"class_list":["post-40370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-chance-swanson","tag-hanalei","tag-kauai","tag-lifeguard","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-shark-bite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}