It\u2019s\u00a0Halloween morning at Tunnels Beach in Kauai, Hawaii and\u00a0thirteen-year-old\u00a0Bethany Hamilton is out surfing.\u00a0For the moment, this is just like any other\u00a0ordinary\u00a0day on the water. But little does she\u00a0know;\u00a0this is all about to change.\u00a0It’s\u00a0early in the morning, the water is\u00a0quiet,\u00a0and this is something\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0done hundreds of times before.\u00a0As\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0lying on her board with her arm in the water, she suddenly feels an impact, tugging on her arm and then everything goes silent. A\u00a0fourteen-foot\u00a0tiger shark has come up from underneath the waves and hit her out of\u00a0nowhere.\u00a0Not just hit, but teeth\u00a0smashing\u00a0down grabbing her entire left arm.\u00a0With no warning it was coming, Bethany is now bleeding out from the almost immediate loss of her\u00a0arm. Thinking back to the calm before the chaos, with no idea what was coming from underneath her, to now complete shock, fighting for her life.\u00a0This definitely was not like every other Halloween or every other early morning surfing\u00a0trip before.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bethany grew up on the water and has been surfing most of her life. As a teenager, she started surfing competitively. This was not just a hobby for her; it was her whole identity. She had her parents and her two older brothers who all very much supported her and her dreams. She was not just a random victim of a shark attack; she was someone who had been tied to the ocean for as long as she could remember. On the day of the attack, she was out with one of her friends and their family. Immediately following the bite, everyone was in shock more than fear and could see the extensive amounts of blood she was losing. This wasn\u2019t just a small bite; she lost her arm almost instantly, was in life-threatening condition and ended up losing almost 60% of her blood. When she finally arrived at the hospital, doctors were not sure she would make it based on how severe the attack was. During this critical time, she had doctors, her family and a whole community of support rallying around her and fighting for her to make it out alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite not knowing what the outcome would be, Bethany underwent multiple surgeries with no signs of infection and got through this on the other side. Now heading into what life looks like now, with only one arm. But she was far from out of the woods. Bethany has been quoted speaking on how she stayed calm and let her faith guide her through this horrific tragedy. Stating that her faith is most likely the only reason she survived this viscous attack. Being that surfing was all she had known and worked for, now she had to question was that even possible with one arm. The biggest challenge and fight of her life was far from over, only just getting started. Surfing was who she was, and if she couldn\u2019t do that anymore, who would she even be? This wouldn\u2019t just be a mental battle, but also an extreme physical one, on top of overall fear of getting back into the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For someone like Bethany who has been surfing most of her life, and had now been doing so competitively, having to completely relearn how to surf now was not going to happen overnight. Regardless of the challenges ahead, her love for surfing and determination was greater than her fears, and she was going to do anything she had to do to get back up on that board. In under thirty days following the attack, Bethany was back in the water. She refused to let this attack define her future. Once she adjusted and got more comfortable, figuring out what she needed to do to surf again, she was able to return to competitive surfing, winning a national title just over a year later. She then was able to continue her dream of becoming a professional surfer. No one could have ever imagined how far she would come after the attack, loss of her arm and fight for her life back. To see how hard she worked, refused to give up and never let this define her, all led by her faith, is something truly remarkable. She wasn\u2019t just back to doing what she loved to do but was competing and winning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bethany\u2019s story was heard around the world. It was scary, heartbreaking, and inspiring all in one. This isn\u2019t the type of thing you hear about often, especially being able to come out on the other side with your whole career still ahead of you. And people were invested in it. You can\u2019t help but be touched by what happened. Several years after the attack, Bethany wrote a book telling her story called Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family and Fighting to Get Back on the Board<\/em>. In 2011, a movie also came out titled \u201cSoul Surfer,\u201d depicting the story of her attack and incredible life after. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethany Hamilton\u2019s story highlighted the challenges within the personal relationship of athletes and identity. That you can still be courageous even if you\u2019re scared, and she showed us that strength can be redefined in your own terms. Bethany loved the ocean her entire life and still does. She went back to surfing as soon as she could. And she never blamed the shark or the water for this accident. Some things are just unpredictable and out of your control, and what defines you, is how you choose to move forward and overcome. Only you can decide if you\u2019re going to fight or give in to all the obstacles ahead. Her passion for the sport was greater than any challenge in front of her, and her determination never failed her. She was not going to let her trauma define her in her story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bethany still surfs at Tunnels Beach. Despite this being where almost everything was taken from her; she managed to find herself again in these same exact waters. The ocean may remain the same, but Bethany will forever be changed, and her story will continue to be told and inspire people all around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s\u00a0Halloween morning at Tunnels Beach in Kauai, Hawaii and\u00a0thirteen-year-old\u00a0Bethany Hamilton is out surfing.\u00a0For the moment, this is just like any other\u00a0ordinary\u00a0day on the water. But little does she\u00a0know;\u00a0this is all about to change.\u00a0It’s\u00a0early in the morning, the water is\u00a0quiet,\u00a0and this is something\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0done hundreds of times before.\u00a0As\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0lying on her board with her arm in the water, … Continue reading The Silence Beneath the Surface<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32088,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/christakernssportjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}