While Mick Fanning was busy punching a damn shark that tried to have a go at him in the waters off South Africa, his mum was watching him live on TV back in Australia, freaking the hell out, as any mum would be in that situation.
Last night, Elizabeth Osborne spoke about her disbelief as she watched her son disappear below the water while the shark’s fin approached, fearing the worst.
“I was absolutely terrified. I went over to the television almost as though I could pull him out, to save him,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I thought we’d lost him.”
The Fanning family lost Mick’s brother, Sean, in a car accident 17 years ago, and while Osborne did not see that, seeing Mick in danger on the screen in front of her and not being able to do anything was “just terrible.”
Fanning took the time to call his mum not long after the attack, assuring her that he was, in fact, okay – nonetheless, she says she was “very shaken”, as you would be.
Watch her speaking about the experience below:
via ABC News
