Bethany Hamilton by David S.

 

Surfing is an important sport to many people in Hawaii. But very rarely, it can cause serious injury and/or death! One of the people that survived a very tragic event back in 2003 and her name is Bethany Hamilton. She was born back in February 8^th, 1990 and got her arm ripped off by a shark when she was 13. She overcame her trauma and went back to professional surfing after a couple of months.

To start off, she started competitive surfing at the age of 8. Also, at the age of 9, she ended up getting her first sponsorship. She was capable of beating older and more experienced surfers. She had won two competitions, one in her age group, and another which was the open division of Hawaii’s Local Motion/Ezekiel Surf Into Summer Event. She then placed second place in the Open Women’s Division of the N.S.S.A. in San Clemente, California. Bethany had been to multiple competitions and won most of them.

            The moment that changed her life occurred back on Halloween morning on 2003. She went surfing with her best friend, Alana Blanchard, and Alana’s father and brother. When they were just laying on their boards, a 14 foot tiger shark bit Bethany’s arm almost up to her shoulder. "I was holding onto my board, with my thumb, because I probably didn't want to get pulled under. It was like pulling me back and forth, not like pulling me underwater. Just like, you know how you eat a piece of steak? It was kind of like that” (biography.com). Alana’s father reacted quickly and took off his shirt to put pressure on the gigantic wound to lower the blood loss rate. He also led everyone to shore. He put Bethany in the back of his pickup truck with Alana’s brother and took her to Wilcox Memorial Hospital, where her dad was about to have knee surgery. She had multiple surgeries and lost approximately 60% of her blood.

        After multiple months, she was stabilized and released from the hospital. Her story ended up spreading across the United States and she vowed to return to surfing as soon as possible. When she did return to surfing, she had to practice a lot to get a hang of surfing with one arm. After she learned how to surf again, her future was perfect. She ended up winning the N.S.S.A. National Championships on 2005. She also competed in the T&C Surf Women’s Pipeline event. She had also made multiple books and a movie (Soul Surfer). Bethany’s life has been good after her shark attack back on 2003. In 2012, she met a person called Adam Dirks and they got married on 2013. And also on the years 2015, 2018, and 2021, Bethany gave birth to her children. Her children are Tobias (June 1^st, 2015), Wesly (March 2018), and Micah (February 2021) (celebsgraphy.com).

            In conclusion, Bethany Hamilton is very talented, especially with one arm! She was able to beat people that were more experienced surfers and had her first sponsorship before the age of 10. But her career had abruptly stopped after her shark attack on 2003 (when she was 13). She has been able to beat adversity and is now living a completely normal life with a husband and 3 kids. She is not a normal person; she is a survivor of adversity.