Less than a month after being pronounced dead on Muizenberg beach, shark attack survivor John Paul "JP" Andrew is going home on Saturday.
On Friday, in his first media interview, he told Weekend Argus from his hospital bed that he couldn't wait to get home and start "getting back to life".
He cracked jokes and teased his parents, Robert and Estelle Andrew, about taking too long to get his room at home ready.
"The only benefit," he pronounced about being bitten by a shark, "is missing school".
| He cracked jokes and teased his parents |
The 16-year-old, who lost his right leg and also suffered lacerations to his left calf, is a Grade 11 pupil at Reddam House College.
By rights he should never have made it after "flatlining" - his heart stopped - for 35 minutes on the beach and for another five minutes in the emergency room at Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic.
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His remarkable recovery has astounded doctors and overwhelmed his family who hardly dared to hope he would survive in the days after the attack when it was touch and go.
His vision is still not 100 percent but seems to be getting better every day, according to his father.
"He can now recognise faces and yesterday he was watching a surfing video. He could see the waves but not the surfer. But if he carries on at this rate we are A for away," he said.
| He told me he was going to keep his leg in formaldehyde |
JP is still trying to piece together the events of the past four weeks and has no memory of the shark attack. He was amused to hear from his mother that doctors had tried to take out his tongue ring while he was in intensive care but that he had kept pulling his tongue right back and they couldn't get it out.
"Oh, so they tried to take it out behind my back," he joked.
"Actually I've been thinking of getting another piercing, maybe an eyebrow ring," he told her.
JP looks young and vulnerable in his hospital bed but within minutes it's clear he has a sharp mind and wicked sense of humour.
The walls of his room are adorned with letters and cards from scores of well-wishers, including a poster covered with messages of love and support made by local surfers.
There are also pictures of friends and photographs of family including one of JP and his dog Gemini lying back-to-back in bed, sound asleep.
On Friday, Grant Kirkland, the man who saved JP's life, popped in to see how he was getting on.
Kirkland, 28, from Oranjezicht, said that while he had been back to surf at Muizenberg, the attack was something he thought about every day and he no longer went into the water alone.
He recalled that he was paddling back out after catching a wave when he heard shouts of "shark, shark" and saw JP bobbing about surrounded by bloody water.
"I didn't stop to think. I just went to him and put him on my board and started doggy-paddling back to shore. Only then I wondered if the shark might come after us."
Kirkland said he had been constantly amazed by JP's sense of humour.
"He told me he was going to keep his leg in formaldehyde in a bottle by his bed."
JP's family know there is still a long, slow road ahead but they are just happy to have their son back with them.
A nurse will come in every two days to change JP's dressing and his mother has stopped work so she can be with him.
A trust fund has been set up to help the family with medical costs. The bank details are Nedbank savings account 200 986 7629. Branch code 100909. Or contact Robyn Cowie at Fairheads International Trust Company at 021 410 7800.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of Saturday Argus on May 01, 2004
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