Surfer Girl Makes Comeback After Shark Attack
April 7, 2005 -- -- Most observers doubted teenage surfing prodigy Bethany Hamilton would ever be able to surf competitively again after she lost her left arm -- and nearly her life -- in a vicious shark attack off the coast of Hawaii in October 2003.
But Hamilton has refused to let her story become a tragedy. She has since returned to surfing, and has proven she can still compete with the best in her sport. Her courage and positive attitude has also earned her numerous awards and product endorsements -- as well as widespread acclaim and admiration.
"I get tons of letters -- stories of people that were going through a hard time and then they saw that I didn't give up on my dreams," she told "Primetime Live" co-anchor Chris Cuomo. "I kept surfing -- it helped them out a lot and that just shows that good can come out of like bad stuff like this."
Hamilton won fifth place at the National Surfing Championships in 2004, and took first place in the Open Women's division at the first stop on the Hawaii National Scholastic Surfing Association circuit.
Last October, Hamilton released a biography titled "Soul Surfer." A movie based on the book starts filming this year. She won the 2004 ESPY Award from ESPN for Best Comeback Athlete, and Janet Jackson presented her with a special Courage Award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards.
Hamilton is even branching out into perfumes. She just launched two fragrances -- "Stoked" for girls, and "Wired" for boys.
Hamilton's recovery was not easy. She was already a teen surfing star when a huge shark attacked her as she was lying on her surfboard in the calm waters off the North Shore of Kauai. The creature took a 16-inch bite out of her board and Hamilton nearly died from blood loss. She was just 13 years old at the time.
She says when she first returned to surfing, she felt like she was learning the sport all over again, "just learning with one arm, and adapting to not having two there."
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