Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton, full of courage, hope and faith. She was born on February, 8th, 1990, at Lihue, Hawaii. And as a child lived in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii. At the age of five she had a love for surfing. Bethany's parents, Tom and Cheri Hamilton, had also found the love for surfing at young ages. She instantly fell in love, and she knew it was her dream and passion. Bethany had entered her first surfing contest, at the age of eight; she did amazingly. October 31, 2003, Bethany was surfing at Kauai's North Shore, suddenly within seconds; she was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark. The shark had taken Bethany's left arm up to almost her shoulder. It took her 20 minutes to paddle to shore, which left her losing 60% of her blood.

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After Bethany's tragic event, she stayed at the hospital to recover from the attack for seven days. Within a month after her attack Bethany returned to the water. With courage and inspiration Bethany made it back up on her surfboard. After she had more experience surfing with one arm, Bethany entered a surfing competition in January, 2004. It was an open women's divisional contest, Bethany got 5th place, but she was determined to do even better. Within a year after her attack, she entered another contest, and Bethany won 1st place in the Explorers women's division of the 2005 NSSA national championships. Bethany`s parents Tom and Cheri were obviously proud of their daughter, who wouldn't be?! Throughout the experience Bethany had her best friend, Alana Blanchard, her parents Tom and Cheri, her two brothers Timothy and Noah and of course, her dog Gingers supporting her. But she also had other friends and family that were encouraging Bethany to never give up.

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After Bethany had fully recovered from her attack she knew what she wanted to do, and that was helping other people. After what had happened to her, she wanted to help other people that were going through tragic events in their lives. In 2005 Bethany went to Thailand, with World Vision to help out where a recent tsunami had taken the lives of many people. While she was there helping out, she had helped many people also overcome their fear of the ocean. Bethany was inspired by her tragic event so she started her own charity; it's called, "Friends Of Bethany" which donates money to people that have survived shark attacks. In 2006 Bethany went to a Mexico church youth group and helped them out. Hamilton has also competed on "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?"

In October of 2004 Bethany shared her biography. She shared it with many people; she had entitled it, "Soul Surfer". Just over 7 years later it became a major motion picture. It was about Bethany's life, and her attack and how she is still living life to her fullest. I picked Bethany Hamilton to be my hero for this biography because, even though she had to go through tough times when she lost her arm, she kept a positive attitude throughout the whole thing. Also she inspired me because; she does lots of work to help others. For example, her charity, "Friends of Bethany". But also she helps out with other things going on in the world as well. For example, when there was the tsunami in Thailand, Bethany went and helped families whose homes were destroyed, and who could not get food or water. But what really made me want to write a biography on Hamilton, was because she did not give up after her attack, she kept on trying until she succeeded.

:http://www.google.ca/imgres?hl=en&tbo=d&biw=1088& (unknown)

Still, Bethany inspires many people around the world, with her positive attitude and her great outlook on life. Even though she had a tragic event that happened, Bethany did not let it slow her down at all. Positive Attitude, good outlook on life, and always staying strong. That is definitely what makes Bethany Hamilton my hero. "I can't change it, that was God's plan for my life so I'm going to go with it."-Bethany Hamilton.