By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Michael Coots, the bodyboarder whose right foot was
bitten off in an October shark attack on Kauai, tried on
his new prosthesis yesterday while his sister, Nicole Coots,
left, and mother, Karla Bailey, watched.

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Shark victim gets
prosthetic foot

Bodyboarder Michael Coots
plans to return to surfing

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii sharks and bodyboard competitors better watch out, because 18-year-old Michael Coots just got a new foot.

While bodyboarding in Kauai two months ago, Coots was attacked by a shark that bit off his left foot.

Yesterday, Coots tried on his new prosthetic foot for the first time at Shriners Hospital in Honolulu.

Coots plans to pursue his goal of professional bodyboarding within a few months.

"It feels great," he told his doctor, as he walked on the new foot with crutches across the physical therapy room. Coots smiled shyly at the TV cameras filming the scene.

"He's checking out their equipment," explained his mother, Karla Bailey, "because he's interested in film editing."

Then Coots laid down a crutch and walked with just one. "Whoa, Mike!" his mom said, impressed. His 16-year-old sister, Nicole, looked on smiling, while his stepfather, John, paced in the background watching Coots with pride.

"It's a good day," Karla Bailey said. "It's so fun seeing him with both feet. When I do his laundry, I automatically look for the match to his socks. I keep forgetting he only has one foot."

So does Coots. Every morning he wakes up expecting to put both feet on the ground. Then he remembers, "Oh yeah."

Friends, family and witnesses say his belief in God has carried him through the ordeal. His spirituality has helped him focus on the life he gained, rather than the foot he lost.

"The day of the attack, he couldn't believe he was still here," said John Bailey, his stepfather. "He knew how close he had come."

Many amputees feel anger and grief over their lost limb for as long as a year after their amputations, but not Coots, said Dr. Kent Reinker, Shriners' chief of staff. "He's rolling right through it."

"That's what's striking about him," Reinker said.

"His attitude has helped me do my job and him heal faster."

Coots could be running on his new foot in a month, and bodyboarding as soon as his customized waterproof foot is built. Coots will help design the bodyboarding foot, said George Newton, a licensed prosthetist orthotist with CR Newton Co., who makes the prosthetic limbs for Shriners' patients.

Although he doesn't have nightmares about the shark, Coots thinks about the shark at night sometimes.

"The shark came at me from underneath, so I didn't see his teeth or eyes, I just saw the top of him," he said. "I didn't have time to be afraid, I just wanted him to get away from me. So I started punching him."

The last two months Coots has healed have been wonderful for the family, said John Bailey, an emergency medical technician on Kauai.

"It's put a lot of things into perspective for us. It's been an affirmation. Like any family, we'd worry about petty issues. We were strong, but it's made us stronger. We realize what's important, each other."

Coots' story "is not over yet," Bailey said.

"He still has strong ambitions."