Bethany Hamilton

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The waves crashing against the rocks, Adrenalin rushing through all the veins in my body. "Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it's my passion, my love, and it's a part of me. -Bethany Hamilton"."Courage doesn't mean you don't get afraid. Courage means you don't let fear stop you." ~Bethany Hamilton Bethany Hamilton was a 13-year-old surfer, and one of the best amateurs in the United States, when she was bitten by a shark while surfing in October of 2003. She lost her left arm in the attack, but quickly recovered and resumed her competitive surfing career. Born c. 1990, Hamilton was the youngest of three children born to Tom, a waiter at a hotel and a surfer, and his wife, Cheri, who worked in advertising and catering. Her parents were natives of New Jersey who moved to Hawaii partly to surf. Hamilton herself surfed from an early age, and began competing at the age of five. When she reached the age of nine, it was clear that she was becoming a major talent in the sport. Hamilton soon signed her first sponsorship deal, with Rip Curl USA. A hero must possess resilience and courage. Within every hero is many different characteristics, some are hard to see and others are obvious. With Bethany there are so many characteristics but narrowing it down the big ones are her resilience. She became famous in one of the most difficult times in her life, but within all the fame she got back on her feet. Courage was a big factor in her recovery , she had to face the fact that her arm was gone and that her dream/ passion had to wait, so she could relearn how to surf. Bethany Hamilton possess a lot of characteristics but the few that i choose are resilience and courage therefore she is a hero.

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"I don't need easy. I need possible. Bethany Hamilton" Resilience is a big key in surviving tough obstacles that life throws in the road to your dreams. Obstacles are only meant to slow you down and you learn from them, not to make you stop and give up. April 7, 2005 -- Most observers doubted teenage surfing prodigy Bethany Hamilton would ever be able to surf competitively again after she lost her left arm -- and nearly her life -- in a vicious shark attack off the coast of Hawaii in October 2003. But Hamilton has refused to let her story become a tragedy. She has since returned to surfing, and has proven she can still compete with the best in her sport. Her courage and positive attitude has also earned her numerous awards and product endorsements -- as well as widespread acclaim and admiration. "I get tons of letters -- stories of people that were going through a hard time and then they saw that I didn't give up on my dreams," she told "Primetime Live" co-anchor Chris Cuomo. "I kept surfing -- it helped them out a lot and that just shows that good can come out of like bad stuff like this." Hamilton's recovery was not easy. She was already a teen surfing star when a huge shark attacked her as she was lying on her surfboard in the calm waters off the North Shore of Kauai. The creature took a 16-inch bite out of her board and Hamilton nearly died from blood loss. She was just 13 years old at the time.She says when she first returned to surfing, she felt like she was learning the sport all over again, "just learning with one arm, and adapting to not having two there." "Before ... I was really strong at paddling ... Since this happened, I only have one arm and my paddling definitely slowed down," she said, likening surfing with one arm to "a one-arm push-up." It was a slow process. "Every time I would go out there, I would learn something new ... I kept practicing just on smaller waves, just standing up and figuring how to catch it and all that and each time I felt better and better about my surfing," she said. She was already a great surfer with many awards before the attack ,but the attack tested her courage and faith. Bethany overcame the fact that she was now an amputee surfer. Just the fact that she was attacked and survived at the age of 13 is amazing. But that she got back on her board and relearned how to surf after a shark attack is simply extraordinary. When the bandages came off, the sight of her arm nearly caused her to faint. "It was a lot worse than I had imagined," says Bethany. "I was going to need help from someone much bigger than myself if I was ever going to get back in the water."

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Last October, Hamilton released a biography titled "Soul Surfer." A movie based on the book starts filming this year. She won the 2004 ESPY Award from ESPN for Best Comeback Athlete, and Janet Jackson presented her with a special Courage Award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Courage: (noun) 1.the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. That morning, she awoke at 5 a.m., and her mom drove her to "Tunnels," one of the surf spots along the north shore of the island. She paddled out with Alana Blanchard and Alana's brother and father. After a half-hour of surfing, the group was floating on their boards, waiting for a good-sized wave to roll in. Hamilton was dangling her left hand in the water, just as she had done countless times before. But this day was different-- she was attacked by a shark. "Its funny," Hamilton wrote in Soul Surfer, "you would think having your arm bitten off would really hurt. But there was no pain at the time. I felt pressure and kind of a jiggle-jiggle tug, which I know now was the teeth. They have serrated edges like a steak knife and they sawed through the board and my bones as if they were tissue paper." Hamilton had been attacked by a tiger shark, one of the most deadly predators in the ocean. "It was over in a few seconds," she wrote. "I remember seeing the water around me turn bright red with my blood. Then I saw that my arm had been bitten off almost to the shoulder. There was just a three- or four-inch stub where my limb had once been." There are so many signs of courage in this to me. Just seeing a scratch with a spec of blood makes me want to faint. Seeing my arm bitten off and all the water around me turn to bright red would kill me. So for that alone i believe she was courageous but there are so many other aspects within this story that make her so courageous. The United States averages just 16 shark attacks each year and slightly less than one shark-attack fatality every two years. Hamilton was in grave danger. Because blood was pouring from the severed arm, she could easily have bled to death. Fortunately, her companions did exactly the right things to keep her alive. After helping her get into calmer water closer to shore, Holt Blanchard (Alana's father) tied his rash guard (a protective shirt made of swimsuit material) around the arm to help slow the blood loss. He then towed Hamilton to shore. On the beach, he created a more effective tourniquet from a surf leash--a piece of rubber tubing that prevents surfers from losing their boards when they fall off. These tourniquets probably saved Hamilton's life. Even with them in place, she lost 60 percent of her blood, which could have been fatal in itself. The doctor who later treated her said that her conditioning had been a help. "This is a woman who is a highly trained athlete, and because of that she's able to handle a huge blood loss really well." As for Hamilton, she attributed her survival to another source. "I might not be here if I hadn't asked for God's help," she said. "I was talking. I was praying. I don't know the exact words. I just asked for help." She also considered some less spiritual topics in the moments after the attack: "One thought that went through my head was 'I wonder if I'm going to lose my sponsors?'" After a long ambulance ride to Kauai's Wilcox Memorial Hospital, Hamilton underwent surgery to cleanly amputate her arm, then a second operation several days later. The courage it must have taken for her best friend and her best friend's family to stay calm so that she would stay calm must have been tremendous. They kept her alive, they are the reason she is still on the earth. With all the blood loss, no "normal" human being that's not super athletic could never have survived what she had to go through. Although her friends were a major part of her survival, she attributed her survival to another source. She gave all her glory to god and asked him for help when she was being transported to the hospital. In conclusion, there is so much evidence that shows she is a courageous human being. With all she had to go through she could have given up but she didn't she persevered.

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Bethany Hamilton possess a lot of characteristics but the few that i choose are resilience and courage therefore she is a hero. The way her family and friends have handled the shark attack is a big part of her survival. They were super calm under pressure even though they wanted to freak out. Her courage to get back in the water and face the oceans that nearly got her killed. Her resilience to get back on her board and say "I don't need easy, i just need possible." Bethany Hamilton inspires me in so many ways, but the main reason is because she made the choice to be resilient. I know from experience that it's hard to come back from an injury, but to do what you did that injured you is shocking. Other than being resilient she mentors girls that are also amputees. She has so much courage to have survived a shark attack that nearly took her life. She lives a Christian life and takes everything she does, especially helping girls with their body issues very serious. Bethany is super empowering and I believe everyone should know she is what a true hero is. She's not like other celebrities that take advantage of their fans, but she is genuine and an all around a great person. I believe there are a lot of people who are good fits for a hero, but I believe that Bethany displays so many characteristics that it's overwhelming. She inspires many people and she is role model to girls everywhere.

Works Consulted: "Surfer Girl Makes Comeback After Shark Attack." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 14 May 2015. Speed, Marie. "Getting back on the board: nothing could keep young Bethany Hamilton from pursuing her passion as a surfer--not even the fear of another shark attack." Success Feb. 2010: 36+.Biography in Context. Web. 4 May 2015. "Bethany Hamilton." Bethany Hamilton (Biography Today) (2010): 1. Biography Reference Center. Web. 4 May 2015. "Bethany Hamilton." Gale Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Biography in Context. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. "Pro surfer Bethany Hamilton expecting first child." UPI NewsTrack 10 Feb. 2015. Biography in Context. Web. 7 May 2015. "Shark Facts: Attack Stats, Record Swims, More." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.