This is a guest opinion column
It was a God moment that put myself, a physician, and Doctor Mohammad Ali, an interventional radiologist, on Rosemary Beach on June 7th, 2024 at the exact time Lulu Gribbin would need help. God made sure there were doctors on that beach. God made sure nurses and EMTs were on the beach at that time to help 15-year-old Lulu survive a potentially deadly shark attack.
On that day, Dr. Ali and I were on our annual beach trip with our families. We were in the water with our own kids when suddenly, a commotion erupted to our left. Instinctually, we thought it could be a shark, but not necessarily an attack.
It was an attack. It was a parent’s worst nightmare. A shark had attacked two young girls.
After getting our own kids to safety, we ran back to the water—joining a group of heroes, who selflessly put themselves in harm’s way to pull Lulu to safety.
When Lulu was back on the beach, it was a team effort from trained medical personnel who came together to stop the bleeding, to assure her she would be ok as she came in and out of consciousness, to do everything we could to help until the first responders arrived.
Lulu did more than survive the attack. She woke up from surgery, opened her eyes, and said, “I made it.” This resilient girl is beyond brave.
I am thankful a team of medical professionals, including Dr. Ali, were also on the beach that day to help save her life.
I remember walking away from the beach talking with my wife when we heard someone tell us about the shark attack that happened before Lulu’s attack. The prior attack was a few miles away and less than two hours before. I was shocked, and I could not help but think there should have been an alert, like an Amber Alert, to keep beach-goers in the know about sharks.
We were able to help save Lulu’s life, but an alert like this could save so many others. It could save the people who are not surrounded by medical professionals. It could save kids and teenagers from facing a deadly attack in the first place or having to completely learn a new way of life, like Lulu is now.
Both Lulu and I are from the great State of Alabama, which U.S. Senator Katie Britt represents. Senator Britt heard Lulu’s story, spoke to her family, and thought the same thing: We need an alert for shark attacks.
She introduced a bill in Lulu’s honor called Lulu’s Law, which would update the wireless emergency alert system to include shark attacks. If her bill becomes law, our local governments could have confidence to issue phone alerts, like they already do for severe weather and other critical emergencies, about shark attacks or heightened conditions for an attack to occur.
Had this law existed on June 7th, local officials could have confidently issued a phone alert to beach-goers about potential shark conditions following the first attack. As a parent, as a doctor, an alert like this would have changed our day. It would have changed whether my family and so many others went into the water that day.
With Senator Britt’s bill we can prevent other kids, families, and adults from facing the terror that Lulu was forced to endure. We must get Lulu’s Law across the finish line. Congress must enact Senator Britt’s bill and get it signed into law.
I firmly believe an alert system that includes shark attacks can and will save lives.
Dr. Ryan Forbess is a Family Medicine Doctor in Orange Beach Alabama. He is married with 3 children.
