Bethany Hamilton's unbelievable story hit the big screen as Soul Surfer. It is amazing in so many ways! Here is a summary of what happened:
Bethany grew up in a surfing family. On October 31, 2003, at the age of 13, she went for a morning surf in Kauai with best friend Alana Blanchard and Alana's father and brother. She was lying on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 15-foot tiger-shark attacked her severing her left arm just below the shoulder. The Blanchards helped paddle her back to shore, then Alana's father fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash and wrapped it around the stump of her arm, before she was rushed to the hospital. By the time she arrived there she had lost over 60% of her blood.
When the news broke out of the shark attack, a family of fishermen presented to investigators photos of a 15-foot-long tiger shark they had caught and killed about one mile from the attack site. The shark had surfboard debris in its mouth. When measurements of the shark's mouth were compared with those of Hamilton's demolished surfboard, it matched. In late 2004, the police officially confirmed that the shark was the one that bit Bethany Hamilton.
Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Less than one month after the incident, she returned to her board. Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker than standard and had a handle for her right arm, making it easier to paddle, and she learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, on January 10, 2004, she entered a major competition. She now uses standard competitive performance short-boards.
When I speak places (Jason speaking link) on How a person catches a 2nd wind, I break it down into 3 parts:
- Why? For Bethany, she came back because she loved to surf!
- What? The What for us all is perseverance or a determined effort to go and not quit.
- Who? The Who is one's supporters, and for Bethany is was her family and friends.
Oh, and by the way, news reports say that Bethany just got married two weeks ago!!! :)
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