Shark-bite Victim Returns to Mass. Beach; Not Water

Aug. 16--TRURO -- The last time Christopher Myers visited Ballston Beach, a great white shark chomped his legs, sending him into a world of pain and sudden fame. It was the bite heard 'round the world.

But the toothy trauma didn't keep Myers away. On Wednesday, he limped back to Ballston for the first time since the July 30 shark attack that left him with 47 stitches and surgically repaired tendons.

It was as if a gladiator had returned to the arena. Myers was recognized as he walked through the parking lot and asked to pose for photos.

"He's kind of a local hero," said Jennifer Beke of Westfield, N.J., who snapped a pic of Myers with her kids.

A small crowd followed him up the sandy path and onto the beach, enthralled as Myers retold his ripping yarn.

"I'm excited to be back here," said Myers as he gazed out at the dull gray sea. "I felt a little pit in my stomach."

Despite the cast on his left leg, Myers was in good spirits. "I still feel like I want to jump in that water," he said. "And then jump out really quick."

Several beach bystanders told Myers they had witnessed the aftermath of the shark attack.

"I walked down, and I saw you bandaged up with blood seeping through," said Cian Ryan, a youngster from Hurley, N.Y.

Myers spent time chatting with people on the beach, answering their questions and reflecting on the sharky bump in the road that changed his life.

He is writing an account of the attack, and one of the reasons he returned to Ballston was to help reset his memory about the place and the attack. So far, he reports no shark nightmares.

But that shark is still lurking in his mind. "It was terrifying seeing it surface," Myers said. "It was just surreal."

Since the bite, Myers has been spending time with family on the East Coast and plans to return to his home in Denver at the end of the month. By then, his cast could be off, allowing him to swim again.

Will he return to the waters of Ballston Beach before heading west?

"I might wait 'til there's not so many seals around," Myers said.

Copyright 2012 - Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.