Fort Macon State Park, North Carolina - There was nothing 17-year-old Paige Winters loved more than a day at the beach with her loved ones, lots of sunshine, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. But one of those moments turned into her worst nightmare.

The now 21-year-old still remembers how she grabbed the hands of her sister Anais and her best friend Kale on one particular beach day and ran into the ocean.

The teen heartily laughed and enjoyed the cool water on her skin while the trio swam through the waves like mermaids.

Then, out of a sudden, she felt something grab her ankle.

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At first, Paige thought her father Charlie was pulling a prank on her – but then she saw him and the rest of her family nearby.

"Ow, that kinda hurts," she first thought, as she recalled in a recent interview with Mirror.

That's when things got scary, and suddenly she knew exactly what was going on – she was being attacked by a shark!

Paige tried to fight back with all her strength, but she had no chance against the shark.

"He started thrashing about, like when a dog is playing with a rope and shakes it from side to side, the shark was doing that to my leg," she said. "It was trying to pull me out to deeper waters."

Soon, her entire body went numb and she could no longer feel her left leg.

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The shark finally let go – but only for a moment. It then bit down again, this time chomping off two of her fingers.

The young girl was scared of dying.

But her father Charlie wouldn't let that happen! He quickly took action, and raced to her side to try to do everything he could to free her from the shark's grip.

When his initial efforts failed, he began punching the shark in the face repeatedly until, after what seemed like an eternity, it finally let go of his daughter.

The shark disappeared, and Charlie brought young Paige back to the shore as quickly as possible.

That same day, the 17-year-old underwent a five-hour surgery, where both her leg and her fingers were amputated.

It's been a challenging few years since, but Paige is a true fighter.

Today, she's living her best life as she sports her prosthetic limbs, fulfills her dream of studying cosmetology, and doesn't hold any grudges: "I'm not mad at the shark. I think that shark had kind of a bad day too, to be honest."

The only thing that continues to give her a pit in her stomach is swimming in the ocean.

"I got back in for half a second, but when I felt the sea on my ankle, I was like, 'No.' I prefer pools now."

Paige also relived the horrific experience in a documentary as part of this month's National Geographic's SharkFest series