12 year old Jerrod Gilchrist was surfing off the coast of Florida last August when he was attacked by a shark that took his leg. Jerrod is here with us in the studio to discuss his harrowing story this morning. Thanks for being with us, big guy. -Thanks, this is tight. Yeah, now, Jerrod, set it up for us. You were out there in the water on your surfboard... Yeah, I was just paddling out and the first I saw was this shark fin like three feet away. Goodness. -Yeah, it was awesome. So I tried to grab its fin so I could like ride it around or something. But then it slammed into my board and I did this crazy flip thing right into the water. -What was going through your mind when you first realized that you were there with a shark all alone in open water? -I felt like a total bad-ass. But it wasn't over, was it? -No, it swam back over, and I tried to punch it in the face. Oh, they say that if you punch a shark in the nose it'll go away. I just thought it'd be pretty funny to, you know, punching a shark in the face. But, it bit into my leg. And started shaking it back and forth. And at that point I just felt, yes, this is sweet! I can't imagine what it would've been like to see the teeth sinking into your leg like that. -It was sick. At one point I just saw my leg just floating there in the water it was awesome. And then, once I got to shore everyone started grabbing me they were trying to like throw me in this ambulance. And I was just like, watch your hands, pervs. Ok, we are joined now, via satellite by Dr. Brian Cattey who treated Jerrod at the hospital. Dr. Cattey, what condition was Jerrod's leg in when you first saw him? Good morning, Jim and Tracy, it was in pretty rough shape. The shark had scissored through the muscle and it was all just like hanging off the bone. It was, it was nuts. Yeah, I kept touching it. It was slimy as hell. -Yeah, totally, it was insane. -Well, Dr. how do you deal with something like this? Well, you know, you're never fully prepared for an injury this freaking cool. You know, we just tried to stop the blood loss and we took a bunch of photos because it's hysterical to freak out the nurses with gnarly shit like this, so. And then, Jerrod, they had to amputate you leg, isn't that right? Yes, I wanted to stay awake for that part. But this one doctor was freaking out. He was like, we got to put you under we're going to get in trouble. Dude needs to get some balls. -Yeah I don't know what that guy his deal was. Sorry J. Well, Jerrod, we have a very special surprise for you here this morning. The Today Now team wanted to help you in your recovery by getting you this wicked prosthesis. And now, if you ever get tired of showing off your awesome stump you can put on this peg leg and hop around like some bad as hell pirate. Wow, this is nasty. -That is nice. Jerrod, Dr. Cattey, thanks for being with us this morning.