Just 3 months after a shark took his leg, this P.E.I. kiteboarder was back on the water

Mornings are the toughest — waking up, realizing he can't just get out of bed, there are extra steps he must take to start the day.

But then, Lucas Arsenault remembers he should not have survived. 

Half a year ago, the 27-year-old professional kiteboarder from the Acadian community of Mont Carmel, P.E.I., was attacked by a shark while snorkelling in the Caribbean. His right leg was amputated. Arsenault thought he would never be back on the board, but through positivity and drive he's again doing what he loves. 

It was supposed to be a quick trip to Turks and Caicos in late May, where Arsenault once taught kiteboarding, where he had swam and surfed hundreds of times.

It was there, about a kilometre off the northern coast, that something struck him in the chest. 

"I got smoked in the ribs really hard," he said, thinking a boat had hit him. 

"But then I turned around and I saw this face of a shark." 

Arsenault estimates it was two to three metres long. The shark latched on to his right knee and started shaking him back and forth underwater. He could hear popping noises.

"I could feel it's just ripping skin, and the bite strength is so strong I could hear bones shatter instantly," he said. "My leg was a cookie."

He remembers thinking: "Oh my God, I'm 27, life's over. Done."

Arsenault tried to punch the shark, and to pry open its mouth, to no avail. 

Luckily, it brought him back to the surface, so he was able to get a breath before being pulled under again.

"That's when I got a clear vision of him," he said. "I saw the eyes. And that's what allowed me to get out because I was able to poke his eyeballs.

"As soon as I made him uncomfortable, he let go."