12-year-old boy thought he was 'going to die' after shark attack that left him needing 1,000 stitches
A 12-year-old boy said he thought he was going to die after being attacked by a shark while on a family holiday.
Parker Roll, from Texas, was enjoying a getaway to the Bahamas last month when a day at the beach took a terrifying turn.
During an interview with Good Morning America this week, Parker opened up about the attack, admitting: “I just thought I was going to die.”
The scary incident unfolded after the family took a boat out to a secluded beach, where Parker’s brother Jack first spotted the shark.
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He said: “I see this, what looks like a rock. I was like, 'Oh. It's a rock.' And then I see it comes closer to me. I was like, 'Oh, it's a nurse shark, oh, it's a really big nurse shark.'"
Although they initially thought it was a docile nurse shark, the family now thinks the creature was actually a reef shark.
Not long after first spotting the shark, Jack said he heard an ‘ear piercing scream’ and saw the shark bite down on his brother’s leg.
Parker said that at first he didn’t feel the bite because there was ‘so much adrenaline’.
"I remember looking down, and I just see [the shark's] head, and this head's well over a foot wide," he said.
However, before long the pain hit with Parker saying it felt like ‘a knife was stabbed into [his] calf and then twisted’.
"I've never felt pain like that, because there's lots of salt water and huge winds, and there's tons of teeth marks," he said.
Meanwhile, quick-thinking Jack sprung into action.
"I immediately took off my swimsuit, because I was like, 'Oh, we have to stop that bleeding,' " Jack said, before adding that he was able the swimsuit around his brother’s leg and carry him back over to the boat.
Parker was loaded onto the boat and transported to a local hospital where he was rushed into surgery and required 1,000 stitches.
Despite his injuries, Parker is grateful that things weren’t much worse.
"I definitely consider myself very lucky, as that shark could've easily taken my leg off,” he said.
He also praised his ‘hero’ brother, saying that he ‘stopped the bleeding and saved my life’.
Parker’s dad Matt said that it had initially been ‘very uncertain’ how it was going to turn out, but said that medics were now optimistic about him making a full recovery.
Shark attacks and thankfully pretty rare, last year there were 65 unprovoked incidents worldwide, while the 10-year average sits at 72 bites per year.
In 2025, the US had the most recorded bites, with 25 and one fatality, just ahead of Australia that had 21 bites and recorded five deaths.
Overall, there were nine deaths last year caused by shark bites.
Topics: Shark Attacks
Claire Reid