A victim and a rescuer involved in last year’s unprecedented number of shark attacks in Hawaii will never forget their brushes with life and death on Maui.

Evonne Cashman of Cerritos, Calif., had been snorkeling at Ulua Beach in South Maui before a shark’s teeth pierced her back, chin and hands in July 2013.

A few weeks later, Rick Moore of Laguna Niguel, Calif., retrieved a 20-year-old German woman from Palauea Beach in Wailea after her arm was bitten off by a shark.

Their stories and several others will be retold in a National Geographic documentary about shark attacks. Optomen Productions in New York is producing the film; a release date has not been set.

The two California natives were flown to the island month and were interviewed on-camera at the beaches where the incidents occurred.

“I still have my moments of ‘it could’ve been a lot worse,’ ” Cashman said via phone Friday. “And it hit me once again, when we started filming, how bad it could’ve been. I very well could have been the German girl two weeks after me who lost her arm and died. It could’ve been me, but for some reason, God saved me.

“I guess God’s not done with me yet.”

Cashman, 57, a former elementary school teacher, came to Maui last year on vacation. Since 2003, she has lived with cervical dystonia, a painful and incurable disorder that causes neck muscles to contract involuntarily, forcing the head to twist or turn to one side, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“As soon as I got in the water I could move my head back and forth. It was like ‘I don’t want to get out,’ ” she said. “Snorkeling is kind of like therapy.”

Snorkeling the morning of July 31, 2013, about 30 feet from a rocky point at Ulua Beach, Cashman was hit hard by a shark and then bitten. It took a couple months for her to recover from her injuries, especially from those sustained in her midsection, which was bruised heavily by the shark.

She still suffers from nerve damage to her right thumb and can’t use scissors or write for long periods of time, she said.

“There’s just some Maui tattoos left,” she said, quoting a friend.

Since her shark attack, Cashman has strengthened her faith in God and has reached out to Moore, who is a pastor. The two connected during the filming of the show and believe that God had a plan for them on their fateful days.

“I believe God providentially put me there,” Moore said, adding that he heard God’s voice a month before the attack. “He says to me, ‘Get ready, you’re going to be saving and rescuing people.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ “

Moore, 58, a health and physical education teacher, visited the island by accident with his friend, Nick Grisaffi. The two had planned a trip to Kona to compete in the Iron Man triathlon but couldn’t get a flight. They decided at the last minute to visit Maui for the first time.

After working out at a gym in Kihei, the two went to the beach known as “White Rock” and, as they were getting ready to get into the water, Moore said he heard a “bloodcurdling scream.”

Jana Lutteropp of Germany had her arm bitten off about 50 yards offshore. She had been snorkeling alone and, while surrounded by blood, was screaming for help. Moore brought the girl to shore. She was later taken to the emergency room at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Moore said that he put the attack away in his mind after returning home. He said he had prayed for Lutteropp but never cried until showing his physical education class the movie “Soul Surfer,” which tells of teenage surfer Bethany Hamilton’s experience of getting her arm bitten off by a shark.

“I popped on this tape and when they showed the shark scene and the moment when the shark jumped up – all these emotions came out of me,” he said. “I started crying. This whole thing I had compartmentalized came up right then. I cried and I had to deal with it right in front of my class.”

Filming his segment at the Wailea beach, Moore said that his emotions came back when he was asked what he would say to Lutteropp if she were alive today.

“I lost it,” he said. “I went completely into tears and emotions came over me. I said I would tell her that I loved her. I would tell her that I’m so proud of her for hanging on and being focused. I would tell her that God has a plan for her life.”

Moore said that the shark attack last year was a “life-defining moment” that “threw my life into another trajectory.” He said he has been given a “heightened sense of awareness” that has helped him save three people from California beaches this year.

In July, he was given the Carnegie Medal for Civilian Heroism for his rescue of Lutteropp. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, established by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, awards the medal to those who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree while saving or attempting to save the lives of others in the United States and Canada, according to the commission’s website.

“As a pastor, it’s given me an invigorated passion for my faith,” Moore said of his rescues.

In 2013, Hawaii recorded its highest number of confirmed shark incidents in one year at 14 – eight of which occurred around Maui. Lutteropp and Patrick Briney, 57, of Stevenson, Wash., were the only fatalities, and both were attacked off Maui.

Despite the record number of attacks that followed 11 incidents in 2012, a marine expert maintains that shark attacks are still “exceedingly rare.” There have been six shark incidents so far this year.

“It’s a fluke from a statistical standpoint,” state aquatics biologist Russell Sparks said Friday. “When you think about the thousands and thousands of people in the water a day, two or three attacks is rare. Even 10 to 20 incidents is still exceedingly rare.

“You can’t really put a logical reason behind it.”

Before the double-digit numbers recorded in 2012 and 2013, Hawaii had averaged about 3 shark incidents a year, according to data gathered from 1995 to 2011 by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources. There was no data for 1998.

October has the highest number of reported shark incidents at 23, with data beginning from 1980. The next highest is November, which has 15, and September has the lowest at four, according to the department.

An ongoing study headed by University of Hawaii researchers has recently found that tiger sharks prefer shallow coastal shelf habitats, typically found around the four islands of Maui County. Researchers have hinted that that may explain why Maui has seen more shark attacks in the last 20 years than any other island in the state.

Cashman said that neither her experience nor any statistical data would deter her from continuing to snorkel off the beaches of Maui. She said she plans to visit again in 2015 but will be more cautious and aware of water conditions.

“I don’t want to be afraid of it,” she said of the ocean. “I’m learning to live each day and be the person God wants me to be and share my story and give people hope.

“I don’t have any days guaranteed to me, just like everybody else.”

Ten safety tips to reduce the risk of shark injury can be found at dlnr.hawaii.gov/sharks/shark-safety/safety-tips.

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.