The story of Bethany Hamilton‘s life is the story of a person who suffered extreme physical and emotional pain, yet he was able to overcome what happened and move on.
The most interesting thing about this reflection is that many of those who have gone through extreme situations refuse to adopt self-pity as a rule of life.
- Bethany Hamilton was born in Kauai.
- Hawaii.
- In February 1990.
- Her parents are Cherie and Tom.
- Two surf enthusiasts.
- Left home in the continental United States to live in Hawaii.
- Where they would have wonderful waves every day.
They didn’t care if their economic situation became more precarious. In her new life, her mother began working as a housekeeper and her father as a waiter at hotels in the area. The rest of the time he spent surfing.
The couple had three children. The eldest was Noah, then Timothy, born five years later, and finally Bethany, the youngest, who was born four years later. All five family members loved surfing, but none loved him as much as Bethany.
The first time her parents put her on a board, she had barely learned to walk, she was two years old. Since then, he’s fallen in love with this love.
“You can’t swim across new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the coast. “William Faulkner?
Bethany Hamilton began to excel early in the surfing world, it was challenging, brave and daring. She has always been looking for the toughest waves and has always wanted to break her own records.
By the age of 9 he had won several local tournaments, his family had to make a great effort to take him to competitions, sometimes everyone had to be together in the same hotel room.
However, their efforts have been rewarded. Bethany was an excellent surfer who beat girls 4 or 5 years her senior, so in 1999, Australian company Rip Curl decided to become its sponsor.
It was wonderful, because he now had the resources to train, without creating a financial burden for his family.
From there, the girl began to receive an education at home, this allowed her to move at her own pace and have more time to surf, also allowed her to compete without delays in school, everything seemed to go perfectly.
By the time Bethany Hamilton was 13, he was already second in the American ranking of surfers under the age of 18. Her big dream was to become a professional of this sport and win all the competitions to come.
However, on October 31, 2003, something unexpected happened, as every day, Bethany went surfing in the morning with her friend Alana, she was about 300 metres from the shore when her friends saw her twist on the board.
As they used to see her repeat such stunts, they were not alarmed, however, they soon realized that something different was happening.
Bethany leaned on his board and sank one of his arms into the sea, suddenly a tiger shark attacked him, breaking his board and biting his arm.
The 13-year-old said she was thinking only of two things at the time: never stop surfing and not lose the support of her sponsors.
Her friend Alana’s father took her to the hospital, fortunately Bethany’s father was also there, doing a routine checkup, the girl had two surgeries. Some volunteers looked for the cut arm, but couldn’t find it.
The only thought that occupied Bethany Hamilton’s mind was to recover and surf again. A week after the accident, I was walking around the hospital and visiting the other patients. A month after his stitches were taken away, he surfed again.
At first it was very difficult, because now I had to keep my balance with one arm, however, in less than a year, I was participating again.
Asked about her great determination, she replied that there were three keys: “being Christian, family and friends. “She hates being treated like a hero.
Bethany just wants praise for his achievements as a surfer. He decided not to fall victim to the circumstances, but to put all his desire to surf, literally, against the wind and the tides.