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Lulu Gribbin - TPR's In Focus - March 24, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from Troy University's Trojan Cafe,
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  offering handcrafted Starbucks beverages and a wide assortment of meal and snack options,
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  located on Troy University's Montgomery campus, across from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is In Focus and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  In the summer of 2024, Mountain Brook teenager Lulu Gribbin survived a bull shark attack
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  off the coast of the Florida panhandle. Lulu's experience led to the passage of Lulu's Law,
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  a shark warning system, and the establishment of the Lulu Strong Foundation.
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  On March 31st, the Troy University Lecture Series will feature Lulu Gribbin and the public is
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  invited. Joining us with a preview is Lauren Cole, Executive Director of the John W. Smith
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  Center for Student Success at Troy University. Lauren, thanks for joining us. Glad to be here.
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  First of all, what is the Helen Keller Lecture Series at Troy University? Sure, so the Helen
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  Keller Lecture Series was begun by Dr. and Mrs. Hawkins back in 1995. They have brought in numerous
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  speakers. A recognizable name might be Patty Duke. Last year when I first got involved, we had Joey
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  Jones. He's a Fox News contributor and a war veteran who is a double amputee and he spoke to
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  us about overcoming barriers. That's really what this lecture series is for. It's to allow an
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  opportunity for speakers to come and speak about overcoming a variety of different barriers in
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  their life and they've really been able to excel and can motivate us and really inspire us. So the
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  lecture series is open to the community students as well. It's March 31st. It's at 11 a.m. It's on the
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  main Troy campus in Troy, Alabama in our Claudia Crosby Theater. Give us a preview of the speaker
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  this year. We're really, really excited. We are hosting Lulu Gribben. She is a shark attack
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  survivor from Mountain Brook, Alabama. We are actually also going to have her two life-saving
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  surgeons join her on a panel along with State Representative David Faulkner. He was Lulu's
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  representative, helped work on Lulu's law and get that passed. So we have a panel of these four
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  individuals that will focus on Lulu's injury and overcoming that injury. She had a record-setting
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  recovery to walk out of the hospital after only 77 days with a prosthetic arm and leg. That's a
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  record, if you will. So we're excited to hear from her, her experience, her doctors who saved her life
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  and then Representative Faulkner. Lauren, can you tell us how Lulu's law works? This law that was
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  passed is a real-time, they say a geocentric cell phone alert system. So shark sightings can be
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  reported to avoid these injuries. And then, of course, the attacks can then also be passed along.
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  So this has passed in Alabama, and now it is actually already passed the United States Senate
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  and is awaiting action in the U.S. House of Representatives. So Lulu is taking this life-altering
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  injury, but really showing how to overcome that and create laws that are going to protect others
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  and inspire others with her recovery and what she's doing with her life now. She is the founder
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  of the Lulu Strong Foundation, and what is that about? So she has set up this 501c3, a non-profit
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  organization, and they really focus on accelerating the progress of, she used herself, VR therapy, which
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  I think she gives credit to her quick turnaround time of being able to walk out of the hospital
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  after 77 days. And her foundation helps others that may need that therapy and also affordability
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  with AI-powered prosthetics. So people that may need some monetary donations, she has this
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  foundation set up to help connect these amputees and really to speed up their recovery and their
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  independence. Well, Lulu Gribben is certainly an innovator and dedicated to helping others through
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  her own foundation. Can you tell us more about the occasion next Tuesday? So when they arrive,
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  I would encourage them to arrive a little bit early so that they can find parking on campus,
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  they can find a seat within the auditorium. We chose a Tuesday primarily because our class
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  time frame, starting at 11 o'clock, that gives us an hour and 15 minutes before students need to get
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  up and go to their next class. So it will last about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half.
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  We will kick off the event, of course, with Chancellor Hawkins welcoming our guest, a beautiful
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  rendition of the National Anthem by one of our music professors. And we will spend the majority
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  of the time hearing from our panelists with Dr. Stephanie East. She will actually be moderating
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  the panel. Many of your audience may remember her from her time at WAKA in Montgomery. So it is
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  going to be a really great event. People can actually see some information about it, of course,
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  on social media across Troy University's different variety of channels from Facebook to X to YouTube.
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  But they can also just Google Troy University Helen Keller Lecture and that website there gives
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  a lot of information. When Lulu Gribben presents her address, do you know what she's going to cover?
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  She's going to touch on a lot of her foundation and the Lulu's Law, but also her timeline. We're
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  going to walk through from June the 7th of 2024 when this incident occurred through the timeline
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  where she had a life-saving surgery in Pensacola and then was relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina
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  where our two doctors who are attending, Dr. Gaston and Dr. Loeffler, they will be coming from
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  OrthoCarolina is the name of their clinic there in Charlotte. And that is where she received
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  that enhanced care with VR and those therapies that really sped up her timeline for recovery,
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  which also encouraged her to set up her foundation so others could also experience that.
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  What is your understanding of that VR therapy? So there's some nerve reconstruction, but we do
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  look forward to our surgeons on the panel telling us a lot more about that because it's
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  groundbreaking information that I think Lulu will be able to pass along to many others that
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  are undergoing some of the same procedures and help them rebound very quickly. But she since
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  that time has gotten her driver's license. She's very athletic. She's a golfer. She's very, very
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  active. So she will be able to speak to her life since the incident happened and how she has
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  recovered and she's living her life to the fullest. What an inspiration to us all and what an impact
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  she has made with her life and going through something we can all learn from this going
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  through hard times, going through times that challenge us. We really want our students to be
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  able to take this as a lesson in their own lives because during college years sometimes they go
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  through situations that are very, very hard. And so to be able to triumph through those and come
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  out stronger on the other side, we are really excited to hear Lulu's story that she did that
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  as well. So Lauren, can you give us a quick reminder on where your listeners can go to find
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  out more information? Yes, they can Google Troy University Helen Keller Lecture and it will take
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  them directly to that page where all of the information is. And then if they use social media,
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  Troy University's Facebook page and other social media sites. By the way, who are the sponsors of
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  the lecture? The Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind and actually our chancellor, Chancellor
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  Hawkins, worked there before he came to Troy as the chancellor. The others are the Alabama Department
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  of Mental Health, the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation, the Alabama State Department
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  of Education, and the Helen Keller Foundation. Well Lauren, I want to thank you for your visit
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  today and the preview of the Helen Keller Lecture Series, the panel discussion, and the main speaker
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  Lulu Gribben herself. What an inspiration to us all and what an impact she has made with her life.
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  We are really excited to hear Lulu's story and thank you for the time to invite others to join
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  us as well. That was Lauren Cole, Executive Director of the John W. Schmitt Center for Student
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  Success at Troy University with a preview of the Helen Keller Lecture March 31st featuring Lulu
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  Gribben, founder of the Lulu Strong Foundation and the public is invited to the lecture. More
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  information about Lulu's foundation can be found at the lulustrong.com website. Thanks for joining
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  us today for In Focus, which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Carolyn Hutcheson and
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  this is listener supported Troy Public Radio.