"I hit it with everything I could" – dad describes fighting shark to save daughter

GREENVILLE, N.C. (NBC News) – A North Carolina teen who lost her leg in a June 2nd spoke publicly about her ordeal for the first time Friday.

Paige Winter wants the world to know the shark may have taken her leg, it didn’t take her determination or spirit.

“I’m going to be able to walk, going to be able to write, going to be able to do just about everything, same old Paige,” she said during a press conference at the Greenville hospital where she’s been recovering since the attack.

Her father, Charlie Winter, also spoke about the terrifying encounter the pair had with a shark off of Atlantic Beach, and his efforts to save his daughter.

“It was just immediate ‘dad’ thing, I went straight to where the pink was and I dove under and I grabbed her,” he said. “When I pulled her up, a shark came up with her. And it was a big shark.”

That wasn’t the end of it.

“I hit it with everything I could and it let go,” he added.

Winter said once they reached the shore, he took in what he feared could be his last minutes with his little girl.

“I listened to every word she said. Every movement of her lip,” he recalled. “I just couldn’t stop saying ‘I love you’.”