ROGERS, Ark. — Even on vacation, Ashley Phillips, an emergency department nurse at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, immediately jumped into action to perform life-saving measures on a shark attack victim in South Walton, Fla., on June 7.
"As an emergency department nurse, I'm no stranger to witnessing tragedy," Phillips said. "Swiping your badge at the time clock means you can expect anything to happen. But when you're on vacation, it's time to take the cape off and let your cortisol levels come down—at least, that's what I thought."
Phillips traveled to Florida for a family vacation, hoping to get a chance to relax and take a break from her day-to-day.
"Our plan was to just spend all day Friday at the beach," she said. "My dad has cancer, metastatic cancer, and so it was just really important, and this is why we took this family trip together."
While swimming and snorkeling with her family on the last day of vacation, Phillips heard screams and splashing in the distance.
"At first, I thought it was just kids playing, but to my horror, I noticed a darkened area growing around the splashing," Phillips said. "Something was definitely wrong. I told my son we needed to get out of the water and yelled to my sister to do the same. I just knew someone was hurt."
Phillips laid witness to the South Walton shark attack near WaterSound Beach.
"We had been out there all day snorkeling, and I was in there with my 14-year-old son," she said. "We were out a little bit deeper than her, and we were close, and it's just, I don't know why it didn't happen to us."
She ran to the shore to help when she saw a woman being pulled from the water. That's when Phillips and two other people, who are also in healthcare, came to the woman's assistance.
"Instant. I didn't even think twice. I just went right into it like I would any patient that came into the ER," Phillips said. "She told me that it was a shark bite and that her left hand was gone, and then she had some injuries to her lower half."
With no medical supplies, the three tried their best to control the bleeding and comfort the woman.
"Together, we all tried to control the bleeding with no medical supplies," Phillips said. "We used a T-shirt to wrap her left upper arm as a makeshift tourniquet and applied pressure."
Phillips said it took almost 30 minutes for emergency responders to arrive. Despite Phillips' valiant efforts, she could only focus on the bravery of the woman she helped.
"I witnessed one of the bravest women I have ever seen," Phillips said. “She knew her children were watching and experiencing extraordinary trauma. Considering the amount of blood loss she endured, it’s unexplainable how she remained lucid throughout the entire rescue."
With the woman on her way to receive the next level of care she needed, Phillips was at ease for a split second.
"I looked around and felt an immediate sense of connection, knowing I was among true heroes, just like the ones I work with daily," Phillips said.
After that brief moment of relief, Phillips was on edge the whole night, waiting to get good news. Fortunately, Phillips and her family got word that the woman was in stable condition.
"The amount of blood loss that she had to have experienced was quite a bit," Phillips said. "She was pretty pale, and I just can't believe that she's alive today."
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.