Bethany Hamilton

Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990, to Tom (born September 13, 1948) and Cheri Hamilton (born February 14, 1952). She has two older brothers Noah (born December 7, 1981) and Timothy (born June 14, 1986). She began surfing at the age of 8 and gained her first sponsorship by age 9. Hamilton was home-schooled from 6th grade through high school. She is a Christian.

On October 31, 2003, Hamilton, aged 13 at the time, went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai, with her best friend Alana Blanchard, Alana's father and brothers, when a 14-foot-long (4.3 m) tiger shark attacked her, severing her left arm just below the shoulder. The Blanchards helped paddle her back to shore, then Alana's father fashioned a tourniquet out of a rash guard and wrapped it around the stump of her arm. She was rushed to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. By the time she arrived there she had lost over 60% of her blood and was in hypovolemic shock. A doctor living in a hotel nearby raced to the rescue. Her father, who was scheduled to have knee surgery that same morning, was already there, but she took his place in the operating room. During subsequent media interviews, she confirmed that she felt normal when she was bitten and did not feel much pain from the bite at the moment of the disaster, but felt numb on the way to the hospital.

Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker than standard and had a handle for her right arm, making it easier to paddle, and she learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she returned to surfing on November 26, 2003, just 26 days after the attack and entered her first major competition on January 10, 2004. She now uses standard competitive performance short-boards. The shark-bitten surfboard that Hamilton was riding during the attack, as well as the bathing suit she was wearing at the time, a gift from ocean photographer Aaron Chang, are on display at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, California.

When the news broke out of the shark attack, a family of fishermen led by Ralph Young presented to investigators photos of a 14-foot-long (4.3 m) tiger shark they had caught and killed about one mile from the attack site. It had surfboard debris in its mouth. When measurements of its mouth were compared with those of Hamilton's broken board, it matched. In late 2004, the police officially confirmed that it was the same one that had attacked her.

In 2004 she won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete and also received the Courage Teen Choice Award.

In 2004 MTV Books published Hamilton's book, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, which describes her ordeal. Her story is also told in the 2007 short subject documentary film Heart of a Soul Surfer. Described as a "faith-based documentary", the film addresses her devout Christianity and the courage and faith in Jesus Christ in the aftermath of the shark attack, and follows her quest for spiritual meaning.

In 2009 she was a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and won $25,000. In 2010 she appeared on an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

In 2011 Hamilton appeared in a video for the Christian organization I Am Second, telling of her struggle after the shark attack and how she trusted in God to get her through it. In 2011 a feature film Soul Surfer, based on her 2004 book, was released in theaters. Hamilton was portrayed by actress AnnaSophia Robb. Hamilton herself performed all the one-armed surfing stunts in it.

She was the first woman surfer to surf in the Rip Curl Cup in 2012.

In early 2012 Hamilton met youth minister Adam Dirks through mutual friends. They became engaged in 2013. The couple was married on August 18, 2013, at an estate on Kauai's north shore, near where she grew up. The couple have a son named Tobias, born in 2015. In 2018 they had a second son, Wesley. On October 17, 2020 she announced that she’s pregnant with their third child.

Hamilton plays herself in the film Dolphin Tale 2, which revolves around the baby dolphin Hope's story. Hamilton and her husband, Adam Dirks, competed as a team on the 25th season of The Amazing Race, finishing in third place. It premiered in 2014 on CBS.

Hamilton is involved in numerous charitable efforts, including her own foundation, Friends of Bethany, which reaches out to amputees and youth, encouraging them to overcome difficulties by offering hope through Jesus Christ. Using her platform as a professional athlete to promote living a fit and healthy lifestyle, she authored the book Body and Soul in 2014. In 2019 a surf documentary was made about her, Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable', which was accompanied by a photo book and a children's book.

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