TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Alabama shark attack survivor Lulu Gribbin and her surgeons Dr. Glenn Gaston and Dr. Bryan Loeffler served as this year’s Helen Keller Lecture Series guest speakers.

At 15 years old, Lulu Gribbin was just a normal teenage girl, but a shark attack in Rosemary Beach resulted in the amputation of her left arm and right leg. Now, almost two years later, she says the only lasting damage is physical. 

“I feel like I’m still the normal Lulu that I’ve always been,” Gribbin said. “My life might look a little different on the outside, but I’m still the same person on the inside.”  

Thanks to surgeons, Gaston and Loeffler, she received a prosthetic arm and leg, and the proper training and therapy to begin walking just 77 days post-op. She has even found a love for adaptive golf thanks to her interchangeable hand. 

“I think, for anybody, it’s hard to make that kind of a change,” said Orthopedic Hand Surgeon, Dr. Glen Gaston. “Luckily, Lulu is one of those people that is so strong and is, first of all, an incredible athlete, and second of all, about as mentally tough as anybody that I’ve ever met. 

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“If you pair those two together, you can do anything.” 

Gribbin’s athletic endeavors served as inspiration for a small portion of the audience that are struggling with similar impairments. About half of the Paralympic teams from Dothan, Alabama were a part of the crowd that overfilled Claudia Crosby Theatre. 

“I see athletes every day; I’ve worked with athletes for fifty years here with the program, and I know what a challenge it is, but they rise above it every day,” said Barbie Nelson, a Coach and Volunteer for the Dothan Divas Gymnastics team. “Life isn’t always about your disability; it’s more about your ability.” 

Being a future paralympic athlete isn’t enough for Gribbin, she’s also the founder of the Lulu Strong Foundation, dedicated to advancing the field of prosthetics. In her recovery, she had the chance to use virtual reality to help develop her brain’s connection with her prosthetic hand, but this process was not an option for the leg. Part of the mission of the Lulu Strong Foundation at the moment is to focus on developing technology to help specifically lower-body prosthetics. 

Her story was also the inspiration behind Lulu’s Law, a regulatory act that enforces public warning of shark-infested waters. It has been passed in the state of Alabama, and Senator Katie Britt is currently working on taking it to national Congress. 

“I never thought it would come to having a Law in my name, but it is such an honor to be able to present Lulu’s Law to the state of Alabama and eventually the whole nation,” Gribbin said. 

Gribbin’s first tournament in her journey to being a golfer in the 2028 Paralympics will be at the end of April. Lulu’s Law is currently awaiting approval in the House of Representatives.