Bethany Hamilton

Surfing while still young and with her arm (http://www.surfersvillage.com/sites/default/files/ ())

   Bethany Hamilton was born on February 8th 1990, Kauai, Hawaii, to a family of surfers. Bethany was the youngest with two brothers. Bethany went to a public school while she was young, but later was homeschooled from the age of 10, through high school. By a young age Bethany grew to love surfing. At age 5 Bethany was already learning how to surf, but never was able to catch a wave until she was 7. 

  On October 31st, 2003, Halloween morning, Bethany was surfing at Kauai's shore, about a quarter mile out. Since the beach didn't have the best waves, Bethany was relaxing on her surf board, with her left arm dangling off. Out of nowhere a shark,which was later to be discovered it was a Tiger shark, saw her arm dangling and decided he/she was hungry, and bit off her arm. "It's funny, you would think having your arm bitten off would really hurt. But there was no pain at the time." said Bethany after the attack. Bethany was then taken to the shore as quickly as possible, and rushed to the hospital. Bethany didn't remember much but she does remember one of the paramedics said in the ambulance, "God will never leave you nor forsake you." As you can tell this was very inspirational for Bethany Hamilton at this time, as for anyone in this situation. Bethany mainly remembered this from the paramedic because it gave her hope that she would survive the attack, and it also grew her faith in God. 

Self portrait of Bethany Hamilton grown up (http://cdn.business.transworld.net/files/2011/08/s ())

  Due to the attack Bethany was rushed to the Emergency room. At that time Bethany's father was already at the hospital for his knee surgery. When he heard about the attack from another doctor before his surgery he knew it was Bethany or her friend. The doctors would not let him see his daughter. When Bethany arrived at the hospital Bethany had to have several surgeries. By the end of all the surgeries she had a loss of 60% of her blood and a loss of her left arm.

   After one month of recovering, Bethany decided to keep on pursuing her goal and that it was time to get back in the water. Once she had been in the water practicing she decided to compete in the Open Woman's Competition, and got 5th place. When she did well in this competition she decided to keep practicing. One year later Bethany competed and won the 2005 NSSA Women's National championship, and won her first national title. Another one of Bethany's major accomplishments is winning 2nd place in the juniors championships in 2007.

Bethany surfing after her recovery. (http://naturalhigh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ ())

  Bethany's determination and example has made Bethany a hero in many eyes. She was and still is an Inspiration to others. She was an inspiration to others for her determination and hope. Bethany Hamilton never gave up her dream of becoming a professional surfer, even when she was in the disadvantage of losing her left arm.