Bitten, spat out by shark, how this 62-year-old survived

Steve Bruemmer recounts his ordeal in a hospital video, (Image credit: Screengrab from video uploaded on YouTube)

In June, 62-year-old California resident Steve Bruemmer was attacked by a great white shark while swimming.

It was a beautiful summer day and he never expected it would end with him in the hospital.

Bruemmer was bitten across his thighs and abdomen. "It (the shark) grabbed me and pulled me up, and then dove me down in the water," he detailed in a video released by the hospital that treated him. "Then, of course, it spit me out. I'm not a seal. It's looking for a seal."

Bruemmer said he had to push the shark with his hand and kick it so it would not attack him again.

Then, he began screaming for help.

Two people, a nurse and a policeman on paddleboards, came to him. They called 911. Another surfer took two boards from the beach to get to Bruemmer.

"The three of them in the bloody water got me up onto the surfboard and pulled me into the beach" Bruemmer added. "Heroes. How do you get into the bloody water, with maybe a shark circling beneath you to save a stranger? They're amazing."

Doctors said he could have ended up with a severed a major artery. "It could've been much, much worse — he could've not made it out of the water," surgeon Nicholas Rottler was quoted as saying by CBS News.

Rottler added that being fit helped Bruemmer recover.

"Being in really good physical condition before the shark bite definitely made his functional recovery easier, the surgeon said. There were no major injuries to his bones or organs.

"His upper body strength and cardiac endurance allowed him to improve faster than most patients," the doctor added.

Bruemmer was recently discharged from the hospital. "I'm going home. I'm going to recover. I'm going to be okay. Thanks to you all," told the staff.