Lulu Gribbin visits Troy for Helen Keller lecture seres

A 17-year-old double amputee, para-athlete and adaptive advocate recently spoke to a packed-out Claudia Crosby Theatre for this year’s Helen Keller Lecture Series at Troy University.  

The Helen Keller Lecture Series is an annual event established in 1995 by Chancellor Hawkins and Mrs. Hawkins to raise awareness for individuals with sensory impairments. This year’s speaker, Lulu Gribbin, was attacked by a shark in the summer of 2024, resulting in the amputation of her left arm and right leg.   

Gribbin told the Tropolitan she refused to let the physical changes forced onto her have any effect on who she was on the inside.  

“I feel like I’m still the normal Lulu that I’ve always been,” Gribbin said. “My life might look a little different on the outside, but I’m still the same person on the inside.”   

Thanks to her surgeons, Dr. Glenn Gaston and Dr. Bryan Loeffler, she received a prosthetic arm and leg, and the proper training and therapy to begin walking a mere 77 days post-operation. She’s even found a love for adaptive golf, thanks to her interchangeable hand.  

“I think, for anybody, it’s hard to make that kind of a change,” said Orthopedic Hand Surgeon Dr. Glen Gaston. “Luckily, Lulu is one of those people that is so strong and is, first of all, an incredible athlete, and second of all, about as mentally tough as anybody that I’ve ever met.  

“If you pair those two together, you can do anything.”  

Gribbin’s athletic endeavors served as inspiration for a small portion of the audience who are struggling with similar impairments. About half of the Paralympic teams from Dothan, Alabama, were a part of the crowd that filled Claudia Crosby Theatre.  

“I see athletes every day; I’ve worked with athletes for 50 years here with the program, and I know what a challenge it is, but they rise above it every day,” said Barbie Nelson, a coach and volunteer for the Dothan Divas Gymnastics team. “Life isn't always about your disability; it’s more about your ability.”  

Being a future paralympic athlete isn’t enough for Gribbin. She’s also the founder of the Lulu Strong Foundation, dedicated to advancing the field of prosthetics.   

In her recovery, she had the chance to use virtual reality to help develop her brain’s connection with her prosthetic hand, but this process was not an option for her leg. One of the current missions of the Lulu Strong Foundation is focusing on developing better technology for lower-limb prosthetics.  

Her story was also the inspiration behind Lulu’s Law, a regulatory act that enforces public warning of shark-infested waters. It has been passed in the state of Alabama and Senator Katie Britt is currently working on taking it to the U.S. Congress.  

“I never thought it would come to having a law in my name, but it is such an honor to be able to present Lulu’s Law to the state of Alabama and eventually the whole nation,” Gribbin said.  

Gribbin’s first tournament in the journey to becoming a golfer in the 2028 Paralympics will be at the end of April. Lulu’s Law is currently awaiting approval in the House of Representatives.