I am honored to be here with you today at your commencement from the University of Hawaii. Have you ever been surfing? If not, I encourage you to as soon as you can. Surfing is my life, when I don’t have regular things to do in my life, I surf. Even though surfing is my getaway there are some challenges that come along with it as well, a lot of good things came up in my life because of surfing, I also have had challenges including being a shark attack survivor, and surfing gives me confidence I sometimes can’t find anywhere else (Bethany Hamilton: Follow your dreams!).
I was born in Lihue, Hawaii on February 8, 1990. My family already consisted of my mom, dad, and two older brothers and then I came along. Considering I am the youngest in my family and I have two older …show more content…
The doctors said it was very surprising I was still alive at this point because I had already lost 70% of the blood in my body. Eventually the bleeding stopped but as you can imagine it took me a little while to get used to only having one arm, for the rest of my life.
Surprisingly to most people I was back surfing a little less than a month after the attack. Even though I had gone through something very tragic I still love to surf, and nothing will ever be able to change that. Still I had to relearn how to surf again which was hard to do. With my family and friends by my side throughout my whole journey I still overcame these obstacles.
“A devastating shark attack cost young surfer Bethany Hamilton her arm, but not her determination to become a world champion.” Words like these were flying around wherever I went which made me even more determined to be the best person and surfer I could ever be. So, a year later I came in first place at the National Championships for surfing. My lifelong dream, came true and even still with only one arm. A dream come true and I will never forget
I was born in Lihue, Hawaii on February 8, 1990. My family already consisted of my mom, dad, and two older brothers and then I came along. Considering I am the youngest in my family and I have two older …show more content…
The doctors said it was very surprising I was still alive at this point because I had already lost 70% of the blood in my body. Eventually the bleeding stopped but as you can imagine it took me a little while to get used to only having one arm, for the rest of my life.
Surprisingly to most people I was back surfing a little less than a month after the attack. Even though I had gone through something very tragic I still love to surf, and nothing will ever be able to change that. Still I had to relearn how to surf again which was hard to do. With my family and friends by my side throughout my whole journey I still overcame these obstacles.
“A devastating shark attack cost young surfer Bethany Hamilton her arm, but not her determination to become a world champion.” Words like these were flying around wherever I went which made me even more determined to be the best person and surfer I could ever be. So, a year later I came in first place at the National Championships for surfing. My lifelong dream, came true and even still with only one arm. A dream come true and I will never forget