PORTLAND, Ore. — A 20-year-old man is recovering in a Portland hospital after he was bitten by a shark while surfing near Seaside on Sunday afternoon.
Cole Herrington was surfing with a group of people in Seaside Cove when the shark attacked him.
Casey Weyer was about six feet away from Herrington at the time of the attack.
"A shark just came up out of the water and it came up and spun around in the air and came back down and pushed him under water," Weyer said.
Weyer said it was a group effort getting Herrington out of the water safely.
"Four of us helped pick him up and carry him a half mile, all the way to that cobblestone point," Weyer said.
An off-duty Seaside Beach lifeguard applied a field tourniquet to Herrington’s injured leg to slow the bleeding.
RELATED: Surfer bitten by shark in Seaside
Herrington's mother, Amy Powell, said her son had surgery Sunday night.
"From the pinky toe to the heel, starting from the middle up past his ankle is the largest injury," Powell said. "And he's got some other wounds to his leg where the teeth went through."
Powell said her son has a long road to recovery and it's too early to tell just how long. She has a message for the people that helped her son.
"I just want to say thank you to everybody that was out there and helped Cole," Powell said.
Powell has set up a fundraiser through Facebook to help with the families' expenses, including Herrington's time out of work due to recovery. Powell also needs help getting to Oregon to see her son, because she's currently living in Alabama. She would like anyone who can to share the link to the fundraiser.