Soul surfer On February 8th, 1990 in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany Hamilton was born into a surfing family. Her mom Cheri and dad Tom were competitive surfers, but retired when they had their third child, Bethany. Bethany and her brothers, Noah and Tim, would go surfing every day. They were homeschooled, so it was not a problem.
On October 31st, 2003, at age thirteen, Bethany was out surfing with her friend, Alana, and Alana's father. They were laying on their boards in the water waiting for a wave when Bethany suddenly felt pressure on her left arm. She did not even notice that her arm was gone until she was surrounded by a pool of blood coming from her arm. “It was kinda like tugging on a piece of steak, that kind of pressure.” is how she described it in a interview a few months later. Bethany was rushed to the hospital where by then she had lost almost 60% of her blood and needed many surgeries. She was released in a few days. …show more content…
It was not easy to relearn how to surf, and she quickly became discouraged. One day when she was about to give up, she came home to a pile of fan mail. Bethany could not believe that it was all for her. She got back on the waves and won a competition shortly after. Bethany soon got her first sponsor, “Rip Curl”. Bethany became a pro surfer and competed in many competitions. She went on to win many awards including the ESPY award. Bethany has pulled out of many awards though. She pulled herself out from the “best comeback athlete” award because she was placed in the disabled section. “I believe disabled is a very discarding title for athletes. I believe I am very abled…...if anything I encourage the disabled category to be changed to people who have adopted to a different way of
On October 31st, 2003, at age thirteen, Bethany was out surfing with her friend, Alana, and Alana's father. They were laying on their boards in the water waiting for a wave when Bethany suddenly felt pressure on her left arm. She did not even notice that her arm was gone until she was surrounded by a pool of blood coming from her arm. “It was kinda like tugging on a piece of steak, that kind of pressure.” is how she described it in a interview a few months later. Bethany was rushed to the hospital where by then she had lost almost 60% of her blood and needed many surgeries. She was released in a few days. …show more content…
It was not easy to relearn how to surf, and she quickly became discouraged. One day when she was about to give up, she came home to a pile of fan mail. Bethany could not believe that it was all for her. She got back on the waves and won a competition shortly after. Bethany soon got her first sponsor, “Rip Curl”. Bethany became a pro surfer and competed in many competitions. She went on to win many awards including the ESPY award. Bethany has pulled out of many awards though. She pulled herself out from the “best comeback athlete” award because she was placed in the disabled section. “I believe disabled is a very discarding title for athletes. I believe I am very abled…...if anything I encourage the disabled category to be changed to people who have adopted to a different way of