He was enjoying a new surfboard at his local beach on the NSW mid-north coast the day he was attacked by a three-metre bull shark.
Mr Pearson told 2GB radio host Chris Smith he didn’t notice any signs of danger before the giant creature rose from underneath him and latched onto his arm.
“This thing just came from absolutely nowhere, there were no signs of any shark … then all of a sudden this thing just came straight up off to the front of my board, ” he said.
“Its top jaw got my left arm and jammed it in-between the surf board and when the shark went back down it took the surf board and me with it because we were all stuck together.”
“My forearm muscle was completely severed and hanging off to the side.”
Unable to paddle and trying to avoid excessive bleeding, Mr Pearson became swept up in the giant swell.
“A wave picked me up and drove me straight down to the bottom … then I got hit by the next four straight after that,” he said.
“That was when I realised things were really bad because I was drowning underwater and I went ‘s–t, I’m going to die.'”
“I thought about my family and I went ‘no, not today David.'”
The group now have over 500 members, providing help to people overcoming the trauma of shark attacks.
“Nearly all of us are ocean lovers so its really nice to get someone back in the ocean who’s forgotten what it means to them,” Mr Pearson said.
There have been eight fatal shark attacks so far this year.
