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Bethany Hamilton

by Amanda from Milton


Bethany Hamilton is an inspiring person. She is seventeen years old and a surfer in Hawaii. She started surfing when she was only five years old. When she was thirteen, she could surf and catch waves without her parents' help or supervision.

What makes Bethany Hamilton heroic is the fact that she survived a shark attack while resting on her surfboard in the water with her friend and her friend’s dad. After the shark attack, she decided she still wanted to surf, even though she only has one arm.

What happened to Bethany Hamilton was: She was going surfing with her friend and her friend’s father. She knew the waves where she was going weren’t going to be that hard to ride, but she wanted to go anyway. She was sitting in the water resting and waiting for a wave when, all of a sudden, a shark swam up without any warning and took a seventeen inch long bite through her arm and her board. It only bit her once, but she lost seventy percent of her blood that morning. Her friend’s dad wrapped up her arm to stop the bleeding long enough to rush her to the nearest hospital. He is a hero to Bethany now because he saved Bethany Hamilton’s life. Bethany Hamilton is a survivor hero for surviving the shark attack and loss of blood. And she is a hero within for not giving up on surfing.

To realize her dream and become the world’s best woman surfer, she is going to have to work twice as hard because she only has one hand to work with. Everyone else that she competes against has two arms, which means they can paddle themselves out into the water faster, so Bethany is going to have to work a lot harder in order to win.

Page created on 6/20/2008 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 6/20/2008 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

http://www.google.com - Type Bethany Hamilton in the google search box.
 

Author Info

My name is Amanda and I am going to tell you a story about a 17 year old girl named Bethany Hamilton, and how she lost her left arm in a surfing accident when she was 13.