WSU grad doing OK after tiger shark attack

Last Thursday, Harvey Miller felt the jaws of an 8-foot tiger shark sink into his left leg while snorkeling 150 yards from shore.

“When I felt it bite me, I thought for sure I was going to die being devoured by this shark,” said the 36-year-old Toledo, Ohio man, who graduated from Holmen (Wis.) High School in 1988 and Winona State University in 1996.

Miller was released Monday from the hospital after being cleared by his surgeon.

“It’s hard to believe five days after being bitten by a shark, but I’m actually not feeling a lot of pain in my leg anymore,” he said in a telephone interview Monday.

It will be at least three weeks before he can bend his left knee again. Miller will need additional surgery to repair nerve damage. His doctor estimates he should be walking in a few months and playing basketball with his teenage son in six months to a year.

He’ll resume his 11-day vacation with his wife, the former Lisa Wendling of Onalaska, Wis., before flying home Friday.

Miller said he was snorkeling alone and looking for turtles Thursday off Bellows Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.

Little did he know the creatures he was pursuing — turtles in mating season — also attract sharks hungry for an easy snack.

“It’s their environment. We’re visitors to it,” Miller said from his hospital bed last week. “All we can do is try not to look like food.”

Miller’s escape from the shark has received international media coverage, including appearances on CBS’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “The Today Show.”

“I was in shock,” said his oldest daughter, Katie, who along with his other two children have been staying with their aunt, Sue, in Mauston, Wis. “My friends have been calling nonstop, saying, ‘We just saw your dad on TV!’ I still don’t believe he got bit by a shark.”

The attack came in clear blue waters in an area not known for shark problems. The last such incident in that area dates back almost 50 years, the state’s Shark Task Force said.

The father of four noticed fish near him looked spooked. Then he saw a large shark’s flat snout and felt the animal spin him around.

Miller said he punched the shark twice right below its dorsal fin, scaring it away.

“It was just a gut reaction,” he said Monday. “I wanted him off me, and it’s the only thing that came to mind.”

Then Miller started screaming and yelling for help. A stranger, Ray Howell of Texas, helped save him, he said, by wading into the ocean and cradling him back to shore. Once there, numerous people assisted in applying a tourniquet to his wound and calling for help, he said.

“He’s my hero,” Miller said of Howell. “And there were a lot of other unsung heroes who played a big part.”

Dr. Patrick Murray, who spent two hours operating on Miller’s leg Thursday, said the shark came down on the limb and knee with “tremendous” force.

“It went right to the bone, into the bone, broke some of the bone, and into the knee joint and then removed a fairly large portion of his leg up by the knee,” Murray said.

Miller’s mother, Sandy Copper of Mauston, said she first heard of the attack Thursday night.

“I was really nervous and scared,” she said. “I didn’t know if he’d be okay or what was happening.”

The Millers had dropped the kids off in Chicago a week ago and were scheduled to meet up with them again this Sunday to head back to Toledo. Alternative plans are being made to get the kids home.

“I don’t think (Harvey’s) going to be doing much driving,” his mother said.

(http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2007/07/24/news/00lead.txt)