10-YEAR-OLD LEAH LENDEL SITS DOWN WITH INSIDE EDITION’S EVA PILGRIM IN FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE SURVIVNG SHARK ATTACK

Click HERE to Watch, Interview Airs Monday, November 17 on INSIDE EDITION

(Must Link & Credit INSIDE EDITION)

Boca Grande, FL - November 17, 2025 - In an INSIDE EDITION exclusive airing tonight, Eva Pilgrim sat down with 10-year-old Leah Lendel in her first interview since surviving a shark attack earlier this year that nearly severed her hand. Leah recalled the moment the shark clamped onto her wrist, stating, “I thought, ‘I'm never going to have a hand again,’ but I still do.” The then 9-year-old underwent six hours of reconstructive surgery, including tendon repairs and artery grafts from her leg. Leah, alongside her mother, Nadia Lendel, opened up to INSIDE EDITION about what they remember from the day of the attack, Leah’s recovery, and working to regain sensation in her hand and finger.

Leah told Pilgrim, “I think I saw like its tail and then it let go...I scream out and I see my hand just bleeding. I knew it was a shark.”

“Her hand flung out and it was just a stump. Her wrist was hanging off and there was blood squirting everywhere….She was three feet away from me…She wasn't screaming, she wasn't making any kind of commotion,” her mother Nadia added.

Leah  spoke about her recovery in the hospital, saying, “They told me that they were going to put my hand back, but I didn't really believe them…because, like, it’s impossible.”

Doctors discovered there was severe tissue damage but no broken bones. “That's a miracle…but they did have to take arteries from her leg to repair all of that. And then they were repairing pretty much the tendons,” said Nadia.

Leah now works with an occupational therapist and is slowly regaining feeling in her hand and fingers, telling Pilgrim, “It’s an amazing feeling.”

Tune in to INSIDE EDITION Monday, November 17 for the full report.

Check local listings for times and stations in your area at www.insideedition.com.

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