Bethany Hamilton

Bathany and her bitten surf board. (www.hourofpower.org)

A hero could be someone that inspires you, someone you might look up to and idolize. My hero is Bethany Hamilton. She is my hero because she really encourages me to be a better person. She is a bold person. Bethany has a lot of courage and doesn’t let the challenges in life stop her from doing what she loves. She is extra ordinary. Despite her disability after a shark attack because of her courage and strength she continued to surf.

Bethany is your typical teenager. She lives in Hawaii and she loves to surf. One Halloween morning in 2003 she woke up early to go surfing with her mom. The first beach they went to didn’t have good waves so they went somewhere else. At the second beach she found her friend Alana and her dad, Holt. Bethany decided to stay there with Alana and surf with her. The waves were about a quarter of a mile out off the shore, so they got on their boards and started to paddle. They caught a couple of waves then it got calm. So then Bethany was just relaxing on her board she had her right arm holding the nose of the board and her left arm was just floating in the water. Then all of a sudden “CHOMP!” the shark bit her arm. At first Bethany said, “I didn’t realize I was being attacked then I felt a jiggle and a tug and I noticed those were the teeth.” She also said that it all happened so fast and that the water around her turned bright red with her blood, and that is when it hit her that she had just been attacked by a shark. She yelled to Alana and Holt that it happened. Bethany was losing her blood by the second. Holt then started to paddle her back to shore. Alana’s brother Byron went to shore to use someone’s phone to call the ambulance. The ambulance didn’t get there until about 45 minutes later. So Bethany was laying on the beach for a while. A bunch of people kept wrapping their towels around her trying to help slow down the bleeding. When the ambulance finally arrived they rushed her to the hospital as fast as possible.

Bethany Hamilton surfing (www.simonsays.com)

Bethany's father was already at the hospital that morning because he was supposed to get surgery on his knee but they had to take him out of the room so they could operate on Bethany. At the hospital a whole bunch of people kept showing up. First it was her mom and two brothers, Noah and Tim. Bethany had surgery done right away. After surgery she was in the hospital for about a week, and she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. A lot of times there were news reporters that would try to get into her room to get pictures and interview her but she had bodyguards that wouldn't let them in.

After she got out of the hospital Bethany tried surfing as soon as possible, but she had to wait 3 weeks. On her first two tries she couldn't get up but then on her third try she got up and rode all the way to the shore. After she got to the beach from riding the wave Bethany says she was crying tears of happiness. Bethany was a very lucky girl. She lost 60% of her blood and she survived.

Before the attack Bethany was planning on being a professional Surfer. But then when she got attacked she started to think and didn’t know how she would be able to do that. So instead of surfing she said she would be a Surfing photographer so she would be as close to the sport as she could be. Bethany is very inspiring and if I was Bethany I don’t know if I would have ever been able to get back on a surfboard and surf. Maybe I would try but I would be scared. Bethany is a very brave and courageous girl and has inspired millions of people and I hope she continues to do so. She is such a wonderful Surfer and maybe one day there will be another one like her.