Two recovering from shark bites at Brevard beaches

Correction: This article has been changed to correct Heather Orr's line of work. She is a radiologic technologist.

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She told her 3-year-old daughter that it's simply a "boo boo."

But anyone else who talks with Heather Orr will get a more complete, though grisly, story. The 23-year-old was one of two people bitten by sharks Monday (April 10).

"I do love the beach," said Orr, who grew up in Brevard County. "I'll be more nervous about going now."

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The Palm Bay radiologic technologist was bitten on her hand about 4 p.m. at Ocean Park in Melbourne Beach, she said.

About 30 minutes later and a little farther south, emergency crews went to the 9000 block of State Road A1A and helped a girl who had been bitten on her leg. The girl sustained nonlife-threatening injuries, according to authorities.

Orr's injuries aren't life-threatening either. Her issue is she's left-handed and the shark bit her on the left hand.

"I didn't realize how little I use my right hand," Orr said. "But it may have been the best place I could have been bitten."

She and her boyfriend, Chris Nelson, had been swimming for about 30 minutes when a wave descended on them, they said. As she was underwater, Orr felt the bite.

"I came up afterward and saw the blood on my hand," she said.

The shark sunk its teeth into her palm. Orr said she should be healed up in a few weeks, though some menial tasks will be difficult.

"It's hard to straighten my fingers," she said.

Orr was treated at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne. The experience put her in the mood to watch a shark movie, so she went home and watched the 2010 maritime horror flick, "The Reef." She gave it 2 1/2 stars.

Monday's bites followed sightings of several sharks in Cocoa Beach Sunday, prompting closures that afternoon at Alan Shepard Park.

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