Shark attack survivor: Tiffany Johnson on shifting perspectives for “Be An Overcomer Ministries”

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0:41To give you perspective, that's how close we were when he first latched on. We were face to face. I ended up having like visions of my kids playing in the backyard with my husband. Like memories of my life started to kind of populate like a movie reel. Like my body was giving up. But then I felt the strength of the Lord just come out from inside of me and give me the strength to fight back. And the new thought of the form was, no, you are not going to take my life. I am not going to die here. So Tiffany Johnson, you know, a few years ago, you're on this amazing cruise with your husband and having the time of your lives.

1:22And you get to the last stop, which was Nassau, right in the Bahamas. And you guys were snorkeling, I believe, correct? Snorkeling. and your husband gets in the water and he gets out and kind of feels like, I'm just not feeling good. You get in the water, you go and do the snorkeling experience and walk the audience through what happened there. Yeah. So once my husband left, I just kind of put my head back under the water, just got lost in that world. Cause it's, it's like a whole different vantage point when you're watching from that perspective. And we think it had only been about 10 minutes or so from the time he left to when I, all of a sudden I felt like I had slammed into something.

2:05And that actually was the thought that went through my mind was, oh, what did I bump into? So I turned to my right casually to see, you know, what I had bumped into. And I was face to face with a shark and he had my whole arm in his mouth. That was the bump I felt was him grabbing on to my arm. I have a scar. It's, you can't really see it very well now, like through there, but it's, it's a, I can see the indentation. Yeah. So that you can feel like the tooth mark of where he first latched on there. So that's kind of, to give you perspective, that's how close we were. Like he, when he first latched on, we were face to face.

2:43And of course, you know, it felt like time stood still and yet was all over all at once. Like it just, it was very distorted. I, I ended up having visions of my kids playing in the backyard with my husband. Memories of my life started to populate like a movie reel. And I felt almost like a giving up, like a releasing, like my body was giving up. But then I felt the strength of the Lord just come out from inside of me and give me the strength to fight back. And I remember pushing those thoughts back. and the new thought the form was no you are not going to take my life I'm not going to die here and it was like that fight you know came back in me and so at that point you know we were just kind of sitting there he had me pinned but his eyes were like darting everywhere and then staring and darting everywhere there and staring it was just evil eerie like face off but then once I yanked my arm, that's when it began to be, it was like game on for him, right?

3:48So he's fighting, thrashing. I'm screaming through my snorkel tube. Everybody asked me, what'd you do with your left hand? I don't remember. It was just so, so much commotion, so much thoughts and things going on that I can't recall what I did with my left hand. But I was yanking, trying to get free from him. But of course he had me pinned. There was nowhere to go. and that snorkel tube is, you know, in my mouth still. So I'm screaming, but you can't really hear it from, you know, out. Like everybody, all you can hear is that, you know, sound. It's not loud enough to draw attention. What I bought?

4:23A new Blink Mini 2K Plus smart security camera. What I got? 2K clarity sharp enough to see every detail of home when I'm away. Plus audio like I'm in the room, not with my bestie traveling to another city. Plus easy plug-in setup to install faster than skipping through podcast ads. But you'd never skip ads, right? Plus, I got all of this for just$49.99. Blink Mini 2K Plus. Mini camera, max performance. Shop now at Amazon.com slash Blink. So, unbeknownst to me, my husband had actually gotten sick three times in a row on the boat. And so the captain was distracted trying to, you know, clean that up.

5:03My husband jumps back in the water to clean himself off. so all that's happening while I'm fighting for my life so nobody knew what was going on um and so when I finally got free from him I was just yanking and his jaws kind of opened on one of those yanks and um my arm just came flying out and it was it was completely severed like just a mingled stump not hanging there just gone so of course you know you just I'm just in shock at that point, like my arm's gone, you know, but God gave me the strength and the capacity to keep moving. Cause I was already at the surface of the water. So I just threw off my snorkel mask.

5:47I screamed out, help, help me Jesus. And I began to make my way back to the boat. That was my dominant arm. So I had my non-dominant arm just swimming as quickly as I can. I took a few strokes and I remember thinking, you got to get the injured arm out of your, out of the water. And so I just kind of like lifted my injured arm up. And that then began to like spray everywhere. Like it was like, I remember seeing it. Yeah. From my peripheral vision. Like it was literally just like old faithful. And that's the sight my husband saw when he was coming out of the water to wash himself off. He heard me scream.

6:26And then he saw me swimming back with my arm, just spewing blood everywhere. And I remember locking eyes with him, and the terror in his eyes are like nothing I'll ever see. Again, it's just, it's an eerie terror in his eyes. And he screamed out, baby. And he jumped in the water. And then I'm thinking, okay, he's coming for me, but that shark's right behind me. You know, like you think about all the facts about sharks, you know, and it's all going through my head at that point. Like Yeah, of course. Makes them go crazy. You know, where there's one, there's usually more. So all I could think about is he's right behind me, going to grab my leg or my side, you know, grab my other arm.

7:08And so I'm just literally just swimming as quickly as I can to get to that boat. And I made it most of the way before my husband even met me in the water. And he said, as he like got closer, he heard me praying. And that was just coming out of me. Of course. Yeah. And just even right now, just thinking about that, it just makes me emotional because I'm thinking what you put in comes out, you know, like just it was literally I had it was like involuntary, you know, it was just coming out of me. That was my lifeline. And so we finally got to the ladder of the boat and my husband kind of before I could even like touch it really, he was launched me out from the water.

7:53And once I got in the boat, I felt a peace around me. Like, I can't really explain it. It was a cloud of peace. I knew that the Lord was there. And I just, I was very urgent, but I wasn't panicked, you know? Right. And I just told him, you got to get something to stop the bleeding. And we found out there's no med kit, no tourniquet. And so we use the beach towels that the cruise line gives us and use that to kind of tourniquet my arm. And then it was a 30-minute-ish boat ride back. We made a stop at Paradise Island, but there's no hospital there. So we had to back the boat out, go an additional 20 minutes from there.

8:39So altogether, it was about a 30-minute boat ride to the main port. and once out of surgery, the surgeons told my husband that I was in critical condition, but the miracle of it all was that I didn't require a blood transfusion. They said I didn't lose enough blood. That's wild to me, right? Just from the sheer description of your injured limb out, like you said, old faithful, like obviously you would, you know, it begs the question like, yeah, absolutely. You would need a blood transfusion. That that's incredible to me. I have a couple of questions surrounding that. Like once you saw, you know, your arm in the shark's mouth and when you finally were able to rip your arm out of the shark's jaws, was there any thought like okay like the worst part is over like i'm i'm gonna get through this like you know because i i know your faith right i've done background and i and i know that you know that if it were to happen you know where you were going you're and you'd be at peace with that right um but was there any point where you're like yeah man like this might be it like this really truly might be it even after that that spirit came over you right like i i my i think that i was very um concerned once we got to paradise island we beached the boat we tried to get help there and then when we had to back the boat out and go the additional 20 minutes because i knew what that ride was because we had just did it you know like a couple hours before that's when I had that sinking feeling like, oh gosh, this is not good.

10:29Um, but I tried not to let my mind go there because I knew, I knew, uh, the Lord was there. I could feel his presence. So I was like, I can't focus on what may happen. I just, I literally did the only thing I need to do. And I just began to pray. I just started praying all these crazy prayers. Um, and that's, That's where I tried to focus my, my mind and attention during that 20 minute boat ride. What was your husband like at that point when, because like, look, it's one thing to be in it, right? Like for you physically, right. And you're going through your own spiritual thing at that point, feeling the Lord's presence, but your husband's going through another, right?

11:14He's watching his best friend, the mother of his children, his wife, his love go through this. And the, the, the desperation he must've felt to hurry the heck up and get to somewhere that he could, you know, so you can get medical attention. Like how did you view his energy and what, and again, also how did he communicate it to you after? Like, how was he truly feeling? Yeah. And that boat ride, I remember him tapping my cheek a few times because I had closed my eyes because I couldn't be looking at the scene because it looked like a murder scene. You know, my blood was everywhere. So I literally just closed my eyes and just focused on like deep breathing and, you know, praying.

11:56And so a few times he like was tapping me and I'd open my eyes and look at him. He's like, okay, just checking. And he told me later, like, he was just nervous because I look so still, you know, he's like, did I lose her? You know, like, so he, so that's where his mind was. Like he, he was very desperate. So that word desperation is very indicative of where he was at mentally. His eyes were as big as golf balls, you know, like frantic. And even just afterwards, when I was in the surgery for the five hours, you know, they had to take him to the cruise line to get all of our stuff off the cruise before it departed.

12:44and then he had to make all the calls to, you know, my family, his family. And he's like, I felt like I was a shell. Like I couldn't really think or feel emotionally. It was like, everything was just, you know, like gone. And there was a part of him that was just so angry because he's like, why is this happening? Like, why is this happening to, you know, my wife, my best friend, like you said, like, there's a part of him that wanted to be so mad. But then there was this other part of him was like, but I know who God is. And you know, I have to trust that he's in this and he saved her from the shark.

13:27So like, you know, while she's in surgery, like he's got her there, you know, like he it was just like this wrestling back and forth. And he told me that later he, um, he had gone to Burger King in the inner, in the, in between, um, the minister of tourism had taken them, um, to get his stuff. And then, um, he was at Burger King with them and he could barely eat, but he hadn't ate since like breakfast. And, you know, it's going on like five o 'clock at that point. So she's like, you got to eat something. And he would, he was just one word answers, you know, not being able to really communicate well.

14:02And she's like, Mr. Johnson, are you okay? And he looked at her and was like, I'm, I'm not okay. You know, like I'm not, you know? And she said, I can't even imagine what you're going through right now, but just know, like when your wife gets out of surgery, she's going to need you, she's going to need you to be strong for her. And that was just like the thing that snapped him kind of out of that, like weird scenario he was in. And from then on he was just like, okay, we're doing this. Like I, But, you know, like for every I've never seen him so like methodical. Usually I'm the one that deals with all the logistics and whatever.

14:40But like to watch him, like, you know, he he was on it and it was miraculous, honestly. So I don't mean that in a demeaning way, but he would say the same thing. Listen, to your point and to his defense, most marriages are honestly like that. Right. My wife handles all the logistics, but when it's time for me to step up in certain areas, like it's locked in. Right. And we all have our gifts, but man, I can tell you, you know, I'm sitting here thinking and listening to that story and obviously I have a ton of empathy for, for your situation, but I'm also putting myself in, in your husband's position, right.

15:24Yeah. To a point where he's going around and they're, they're telling him like, Hey, you got to eat. Yeah. Like, here's the thing. Like, if someone takes me to Burger King at that point, I'm thinking like, how in the world am I going to have a Whopper with cheese when my wife's fighting for her life and surgery right now? Like, who gives a crap if I'm hungry or not? But also, if he doesn't eat, then he can't be there for you. So I understand what she was doing. Like, hey, you know, this ain't the greatest food, but you need to eat it because when your wife wakes up, she needs you. Right. Oh, man.

15:57Yeah. This is just, you know, real quick, what kind of shark was it? Do you know? So you're about to make a trade based on a friend's text. But which you do you listen to? Is it, we could buy a house in Tulum. Get optioning those options. We could lose everything. Or let's do a little research. Get your head in the trade and make the investment decision. that's right for you. Learn more at finra.org slash trade smart. Well, so they, the Shark Attack Institute narrowed it down to either a Caribbean reef shark or a tiger shark. I 100 % think it's a tiger shark. The eyes are very aggressive. Yeah, for me, because, you know, I showed you how close we were.

16:48Like the feature that I can remember the most are the eyes and it was dark and beady. Caribbean reef sharks eyes are iridescent. They're not even close to what I remember. So when I finally like looked at images, I was like, that's it. The tiger shark. I will go to my grave saying it's a tiger shark, but they can't say for sure. Expert wise. I don't think anybody would contest that point. Right. They're very aggressive. So at any point, like when you're on the deck of the boat, right? And you're calm, you're at peace. Are you, because I think a lot of people are probably thinking right now, listen to this episode, like how much pain was she in?

17:24Were you in shock? Obviously probably shock. But what were your pain levels at at that point? Yeah, actually, I didn't feel any pain until they got me in the ambulance and they started unwrapping the beach towel. So by then it's 35, 40 minutes, you know, because from the time the attack happened all the way to when they finally get me into the ambulance, then the pain went from zero to like a million. You know, it doesn't register. Put me under. You know, yeah. That little pain scale at the doctor doesn't do any kind of justice. Like it was – it made me involuntarily scream out. Like it radiated through my whole body.

18:03It was the worst pain I can even imagine or describe. It was just awful. And the thing about the Bahamas is they're great. They were amazing people, but they're very limited in their resources. So all they had was morphine. so I did that was great for an hour but then the in between where I had to wait you know four to five hours between doses they had nothing so those were the times where it was just oh it was the I remember telling my husband um on Saturday so this happened on a Friday on Saturday mid-morning um they told us that we probably wouldn't get back to the U.S. until Tuesday because we didn't have passports.

18:48It's a whole like other side of the story. But basically when she left, I, because of the pain, I looked at my husband and I was like, I don't know if I can make it till Tuesday. Like we need to leave now. Like it was that bad. It was just horrendous. So walk me through that. Right. So no, no passports. I'm assuming they got lost in the attack or, you know, in the, in the getting the stuff from the ship to, to where were you? What, what, what happened there? Yeah. So you can actually cruise without passports. So because we're on a cruise, we didn't have to have our passport. So my passport had expired.

19:24I never renewed it for the cruise. My husband had never even had a passport. So PSA, don't do that. Just don't. I didn't know you could cruise without a passport. You didn't know that. Yeah, you can, you can cruise with a birth certificate and driver's license. So that's what we had, which would have been okay if the U.S. Embassy was open. But because it was a national holiday for them, they were closed. And then they're never open on the weekends. And they said they had an extended holiday on Monday. So that's why on Saturday, when she came in, she was like, listen, there's no way to get you anywhere until Tuesday.

20:02And I'm thinking, And that's not going to work. Like, I can't stay here until Tuesday. So it was a miraculous turn of events that happened from there. But long story short, there was a guy that we were put in contact with that was a med back guy. And he knew he had contacts in Charlotte because he had a fiance that lived in Charlotte. And so two months before this all happened, he had made contacts with the Charlotte MedVac people and they worked together to team up to figure out a way to get me back. And I went from the Bahamas to Charlotte, which apparently was a big ordeal because if it's a MedVac situation, you have to go into the closest port of entry.

20:54And that's usually Miami for NASA. Of course. Yeah. But he told me in his 15 years of doing this, he's never seen a MedVac flight go anywhere but Miami. But somehow I was able to go from NASA all the way to Charlotte. And he's, I don't know who did what. And I said, God did it. That's what, you know, like, I'm like, we've been praying. So we ended up being able to get back on the flight 6 a.m. wheels down Sunday morning. and then I was discharged from Charlotte's hospital on Tuesday. So I wasn't even supposed to be back by Tuesday and I was already back home. So this is what's wild to me, right?

21:34Like this happened on a Friday, right? Yep. Shark attack Friday, arm gone Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You're out of the hospital by Tuesday. It's like, I mean, like - It's a whirlwind. Have you - You know what I mean? like there's there's there's people that get hip surgeries replacements hip replacement surgeries that are in the hospital longer like that's just i listen i this is so interesting to me because like i'm gonna tell you a story yeah um my business partners which also one of my closest friends is like hey i'm gonna i'm gonna get you to surf i'm like yo dude you're not gonna get me to surf like i'm just gonna be straight up with you you're not gonna get it done and like i don't like to take extra risks.

22:24And, you know, even when we go to the beach here, cause I'm in Southwest Florida and I feel as though Tiffany, these shark attacks are happening much more often. In fact, earlier this month, when I was out in California, a nine-year-old girl, I think it was, I think it was Boca Grande or somewhere around there in Southwest Florida area, got her hand bit off by a shark, but then, you know, enough to reattach, but like a nine-year-old, like these things are happening. And, and I always tell them like, nah, man, like, you know, you're not going to get me to do these types of adventurous things. So I don't even like going to the beach.

23:00And when my kids are in the water, I I'm like, I look at my wife and go, babe, like they're too far. Like they are way too far. I've fished on this beach before. Right. And of course they're nurse sharks that, you know, usually that far in, but, but I just feel like it's happening more and more often. Have you noticed that lately? Yeah, absolutely. It's well, I think also because I'm, I'm a shark attack survivor. It's like when you drive a brand new car and then you start seeing your car on the road, you know, like that's, you know, they might be as frequent as normal, but it feels, I don't know, but I do believe that it, um, it's definitely been happening a lot more like there was just two in Hilton head just this last week.

23:43Um, Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's kind of crazy how close they're coming to the shores. I think that's the thing that's a little scary about it because, um, where mine was, it was out in the middle of the ocean, you know, like I'm in their territory kind of, you know, it was, it wasn't a reef. So it was 10 feet of water that you probably shouldn't have been there, but I was still out. Whereas these other ones attacked having rate beach level. That's like, yeah that makes me super nervous yeah me too you know it's uh like i said it's just one of those things that i think it's uh when you when you live in this area that we live in it i'm sorry everybody says it's so rare i'm like well if it's so rare yeah then i don't know i feel like it's happening more and more it's like maybe in my opinion like maybe overall the percentages are low like they're saying you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning twice before you get you know attacked by a shark it's like i think we're i think we're closing the gap here yeah you know and i and i don't know what it is tiffany is there so and i don't you know i was i was only asking that because or even implying because i didn't know if like you were part of a community of people that you know support that have gone through the same thing as you if there's any theories from you know um um what are the marine biology marine biologists like hey these are the reasons why they're coming closer, why they're happening more.

25:07But I mean, I guess if it's not a thing. Yeah. I mean, I was on a segment for the Discovery Channel and the segment that they had me featured in was to kind of dissect that, like, why is this happening more frequently? I guess in Nassau specifically in that greater area, there was like, they were like, bing, bing, bing. And I was like the start of it. So, um, they had kind of threw out some suggestions and theories during, um, when I was, they actually asked me all these questions pre-interview to see if it would like fit. Um, but nothing that they threw out really made, I didn't at least notice, like they're like, was there trash, more trash in the water?

25:51Was, you know, the water, did it feel warmer? Did it, You know, like all these different like scenarios. And I couldn't really say that any of those really fit with what happened to me. But that doesn't mean that maybe that's why some of those attacks are happening. The chumming of the waters is a huge thing like for tourism, which is one of the things they kind of figured might be happening with the Nassau stuff is because not too far away from where the attacks are happening. they're chumming for like nurse sharks and things to come in well that's going to draw not just nurse sharks so um drawing them in just in that general area so um that's something i've definitely heard thrown out i'm on a facebook group um with um some australian survivors um and that's big like they're really big on like um the tourism aspect like trying to keep that in check because cage diving is huge there.

26:51And they just feel like that's, it's just mixing what doesn't need to be mixed. So yeah. So I think that does play some of into it, but I don't know how much, you know, I'm not an expert in that. So I, I don't know, but definitely something to consider. Yeah. It's just, it's just a, just a question, right? Like there's gotta be, I don't know. There's gotta be some reason, right? But then, like you said, just now you said something very specific and it triggered a thought and you said you know mixing things where you know they shouldn't be how about that new uh documentary on netflix that just came out the lady that gets in the water and swims with the sharks and like what is what i mean like like like dude like i i almost watched it last night because i was like okay i just don't know if i can but like she's literally like, yeah, I just keep my elbow locked and just turn them away with pressure.

27:49I'm like, dude, that's a great white shark. Like what, like what, how do you get into something like that? When you see that, right. Are you, what kind of initial thought? I know you're not speaking ill of anybody. I'm not asking you for that, but just like the initial, like the, you know, the, the, the knee jerk reaction to that. Yeah. Well, it's just, to me, it's just not worth it. um it's the same thing as like you know jaws just celebrated 50 years you know and so yeah everybody was like you know they're putting it back in the theater and one actually my at the amputee clinic that i um i volunteer at one of the guys was joking with me he's like are you gonna go see it in theaters i was like i lived jaws i don't need to see it on the movie screen you know like so i don't have the appetite for that yeah no i think that's my knee jerk like any actually afterwards, even like I would start noticing there's so there's such a fascination with sharks that we have, like as a society that like even in little kids, like there was a chair at the at the pool that we went to like shortly after.

28:55And it's like this big mouth of a shark, you know, and it's a little kid's chair, you know, and I'm like, that's morbid, you know, like, but I guess I never would have like thought of that before. But like, I guess being that I've gone through what I have, it's just, there's so much shark stuff. Like even when I buy like swim trunks for my, my son, a lot of them have shark references on them, you know? Like, so it's just that whole song, right? Like my ping pong, baby shark. I mean, like there is a fascination with it. And I don't, I don't understand it because I respect it so much. like everything that you've gone through.

29:33And I want to dig into more of obviously the, what, you know, you know, the show, you know, I always ask this question and because it's called the determined society and it's almost feels silly asking you what does true determination mean to you? But I'm going to, because I want to hear your perspective on you overcoming, you know, the days and the months and the years, because I'm sure your life has changed drastically from a standpoint of things that you were able to freely do that you may not be able to now. Obviously, maybe even optic, you know, public opinion. And, you know, you've dealt with so much.

30:11So walk me through what true determination means to you. Oh, it's a loaded question. But I would say... That's by design, by the way. Yes. I think it's a loaded question for anybody. Yes. But for me, I think the thing I had to wrestle with at the very beginning and still to this day, every day I get to choose. I get to choose how I'm going to respond. I didn't choose what happened to me. And a lot of people are in that scenario in life where something happened. It was tragic. It's a loss. And it wasn't something of their own doing. It just happened. Right. And sometimes we don't have a control of that.