Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton, a soul surfer, a believer, a giver. She was born in 1990 on February 8th, in Lihue, Hawaii. Bethany started surfing at a young age of five and she knew it was her lifelong dream. At the age of thirteen, on October 31, 2003, she was bitten by a 14 foot tiger shark off of the coast of Kauai's north shore and lost all of her arm up to her shoulder. It took her 20 minutes to paddle back to shore which caused her to lose over 60% of her blood. During the whole time she kept a positive attitude and now she has her own charity for shark attack survivors because she is one of those survivors.

Bethany on the beach. (http://vimeo.com/bethanyhamilton (unknown))

Bethany spent her childhood in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii. Bethany has two older brothers named Timothy and Noah that support and encourage her very much along with her parents, Thomas and Cherilyn. Also she has a best friend named Alana Blanchard who was more like a sister to her and she was also right beside Bethany at the time of the attack. Only a few weeks later after her shark attack, Bethany returned surfing with only one arm. It took her more than a few times to get up but she kept a positive attitude and she finally got up; this meant that she could continue her lifelong dream! Bethany went out to the water almost every day to keep practicing for her surf competitions which she did very well in! In January of 2004 she entered a surf competition on got fifth place, which is pretty good considering she only had one arm. Then in 2005 Bethany won the "United States Under-18 Surf Competition" still with only one arm.

After losing her arm, Bethany was determined to help out others that had survived shark attacks or anybody in need of help; she was always willing to encourage and support. That's why she created her own charity called "Friends of Bethany" to support shark attack survivors. Also she went to Thailand to visit with the world vision kids and teach them how to surf. Helping out people like this is great. It gives them a chance to know they can still live life to the fullest no matter what. Bethany also got to go surfing with Nick Vujicic who has no arms or legs so Bethany really inspired him to still live life to the fullest. Bethany also went to Mexico to help with the church youth group in 2006.

http://www.surferdad.co.uk/bethany-hamilton (unknown)

In 2011 Bethany made her own website called "Bethany Hamilton". It has a biography about her life and what she has done to help out charities. On April 8th, 2011 a movie called "Soul Surfer" came out and really put Bethany's life in great detail. Bethany inspired me to write about her because she is full of courage and faith. She really likes to help out with anybody in need. Bethany always kept a positive attitude and kept pushing her limit even when she knew that she had tried her hardest already.

http://www.surferdad.co.uk/bethany-hamilton (unknown)

This is really an outline of Bethany Bethany's life and how she is full of courage and hope, and always reminds me to keep a positive attitude, just like Bethany. "Courage, it doesn't mean you don't get afraid it means you don't let fear stop you"- Bethany Hamilton