Bethany Hamilton

Diagnoses

Vocation

American professional surfer who survived a 2003 shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off. On 31 October 2003, Hamilton, age 13 at the time, went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai, with friends. Around 7:30 a.m., with numerous turtles in the area, she was lying on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 14-foot tiger shark attacked her, severing her left arm just below the shoulder. When the news broke out of the shark attack, a family of fishermen presented to investigators photos of a 14-foot-long tiger shark they had caught and killed about one mile from the attack site. It had surfboard debris in its mouth. When measurements of its mouth were compared with those of Hamilton's broken board, it matched. In late 2004, the police officially confirmed that it was the one that attacked her. She ultimately returned to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. In April 2011, the feature film Soul Surfer was released; it was based on the book and additional interviews. She has appeared on many television shows since the loss of her arm. Link to Wikipedia biography