How 13-Yr-Old Bethany Hamilton Became a World-Champion Surfer Despite Losing Her Arm From a Shark Bite

In 2003, Bethany Hamilton was a promising teenage surfer, just starting to find her way in competitive surfing. She’d grown up in Hawaii, and had surfed since the age of seven.

Everything about her pointed to a successful and happy future. If we could choose our early life, many of us would choose a life like Bethany’s.

But things weren’t to go as smoothly for her as might have been expected. Out on the waves, doing what she loved most, at only age 13, she was attacked by a shark which bit off her entire left arm. She was rushed to the hospital and survived, despite losing 60% of her blood.

Many would simply be grateful to be alive, but Bethany wanted more than that. She was determined to get back on the surfboard, despite her new disability. She was back surfing in less than a month.

She struggled to adjust, having to adapt her technique, but she refused to use that as an excuse. After a few months on adapted boards, she taught herself how to surf on standard competitive boards.

Once she had, there was no stopping her.

She was competing successfully and winning tournaments less than a year after the attack. In 2014 she won the Surf ‘n’ Sea Pipeline Women’s Pro, and two years later Bethany placed third in the Fiji Pro, competing against able-bodied athletes.

Her charitable foundation has helped and inspired hundreds of young amputees, and in 2011 a film about her life, Soul Surfer, was released. But Bethany consistently refuses to be labeled as a ‘disabled’ athlete; she just thinks of herself as a surfer.

Today, Bethany is still a professional surfer, and a role model for young disabled athletes.

Bethany’s resilience secret:
Bethany nearly lost what she thought was her greatest asset: her ability to surf. At a young age, she knew nothing else but surfing. But she realized that she needed to adapt, and that ability to adapt meant she found her place in the world again.