Hi guys and welcome back to Bloom Talks. My name
is Tania and this is day 15 of my 100 days of
growth. Honestly, I'm proud of myself for making
it this far. I'm not here because I'm the queen
of having my life together. Trust me, my laundry
pile says otherwise. Or in this house, what we
call my pile of doom. I'm here because I'm learning
in real time and because sharing these stories
generally make me grow. Today's story is one
of those that everyone thinks they've already
got figured out, but honestly, they've only seen
the movie trailer. The real truth is way deeper,
richer and far more powerful. And yes, I'm a
bit of a Bethany fangirl. Women like her are
the reason I cover stories in the first place.
She's got this incredible mix of strength and
heart that makes me want to stand up and slow
clap like I'm in a bad 90s sports film. We're
heading to Kwai, the Garden Isle, palm trees,
turquoise water, lazy sunrises. It's basically
an island equivalent of a screensaver. And in
the middle of all that beauty, a 13 -year -old
girl named Bethany Hamilton was doing what she
loved most, surfing. Not casually, not as a hobby.
surfing was her world. And then, in a moment,
everything changed. This episode isn't really
about a shark, it's about identity, it's about
purpose, and it's about refusing to let life's
most brutal surprises define your future. So
let's go back before the attack, before the headlines,
and before the movie, to who Bethany really was.
Bethany Hamilton was born on February 8th 1990
in Hawaii. She grew up in a surfer's family.
Her parents Tom and Sherry were the kind of people
who probably taught her how to paddle before
they taught her how to walk. She had two older
brothers Noah and Timothy and if you know anything
about siblings, especially surfer siblings, competition
is basically a love language. Bethany started
surfing at the age of three years old. She got
competitive at the age of eight and landed her
first sponsorship before she even turned 10.
Yes, some kids beg for a new Barbie dream house
but Bethany was already being paid to surf. What
people often forget is how disciplined she already
was. She was homeschooled so she could train
more and she was already entering and winning
contests. Surfing wasn't a phase, this girl was
built for it. Her mum would pack schoolwork,
Bethany would pack sunscreen and determination.
Her internal compass literally pointed to the
beach. Everything in her life was lining up for
a future as a professional surfer. And then came
Halloween morning October 31st 2003, a day that
started out like any other and would change everything.
It's just so horrifically ironic that this happened
on October 31st, Halloween night, Halloween day.
This was definitely something that you could
pull out of a horror movie. On October 31st,
2003, Bethany met up with her best friend, Alana.
Alana's father, Holt, and her brother. They headed
to Tunnels Beach on Kwai's North Shore, a place
they had surfed a million times before. Conditions
were calm, no tension, no alarms in the universe
going off. Bethany laid on her board, her left
arm resting in the water, just waiting for the
next wave. And in complete silence, without warning,
a 14 -foot tiger shark bit her entire left arm
off just below the shoulder. It was one bite,
one second, a moment that could have and statistically
should have ended her life. What she did next
is what sets her apart. So Bethany didn't scream
out, she didn't panic, she didn't thrash around.
Later she said, I was shocked in my mind and
my mind just went into autopark alert. All I
thought was get to the beach. Autopilot at 13
years old Alana's father made a tourniquet out
of a rash guard a move doctors said that would
absolutely save her life. Bethany lost 60 % of
her blood that day most people don't survive
that but Bethany made it to shore conscious calm
and still determined to live and her dad was
actually just a side note fact but Her dad was
actually already at the hospital. He was there
for knee surgery until the nurses obviously told
up and said, your daughter has been attacked
by a shark and is in surgery now. Imagine trying
to wrap your head around that plot twist. Bethany
woke up in the hospital to the news she already
somehow sensed her arm was gone. And this is
where a lot of people would break down. They
would cry, rage, fall apart, of course. but not
Bethany. One of the first questions wasn't why
me or what will happen next, it was will I surf
again? That wasn't denial, that was focus, that
was her identity. Hope rooted so deeply in who
she was and even trauma couldn't rip it out.
Doctors were amazed she survived at all, but
her biggest concern was figuring out how to paddle
with one arm because that's who she is. Here's
where I get goosebumps. 26 days after losing
her arm, Bethany paddled back into the ocean,
literally paddled back in, with stitches still
healing. Not even a month, 26 days, and yes she
fell a million times but she kept going. Her
dad adjusted her surfboard, made it easier to
paddle, easier to push up. She experimented with
positions, timing, balance. If you've ever tried
surfing before, which I have, it is not easy.
This wasn't just physical recovery for her, it
was mental defiance. The ocean had taken something
from her and she went right back into it. Like
yeah, nice try. I've got stuff to do. Ten weeks
later, ten, she entered her first competition
after the shark attack. She placed fifth against
surfers with two arms, no adaptive categories,
no inspirational point system, just pure skill.
Then she won a NSSA national title in 2005 and
she joined the World Surf League. by 2008. She
continued to compete at the highest levels, proving
she wasn't just good for someone with one arm,
she was good, like full stop, she was amazing.
She went on to become a writer, she was a motivational
speaker and the star of a major film, Soul Surfer,
which was released in 2011, and it was based
on her true story. She later became the focus
of a documentary, Bethany Hamilton Unstoppable,
showing how marriage, motherhood, and elite competition
coexist. Oh, and she's a mum of four now as well,
because apparently being unstoppable in the ocean
wasn't enough, she had to be unstoppable everywhere
else too. Two decades after the attack, Bethany
reflected on her journey writing Many people
could look at the incident as a major setback,
but God had so much in store for the future.
She talks openly about faith, resilience and
not letting tragedy define the rest of your life.
She also said, I didn't wake up in the hospital
thinking I was invincible. I had to flip my mindset
and be willing to do what I had not seen anyone
else do. That's the heart of who she is. Today
she's still surfing professionally, still traveling,
still speaking, still raising her kids to love
the ocean and still pushing limits nobody else
sees. On her own website she says, with God I
am unstoppable and honestly her life proves that.
Bethany's story sticks with people for a reason.
Not because of the shock, but because of the
comeback. She didn't reclaim her life. She redesigned
it. She didn't wait to feel fearless. She acted
anyway, and she didn't let a nightmare, a true
nightmare, still a dream, she'd had since she
was eight years old. Her life reminds us, you
are more than what happens to you. Your strength
may surprise even you. And sometimes the bravest
things you can do is paddle back out into it.
Stephanie Hamilton isn't just a shark attack
survivor, she's a mother, a champion, an offer,
a speaker, a woman who took her biggest loss
and turned it into her biggest platform. She's
a reminder that resilience doesn't always roar,
sometimes it shows up quietly with salt in your
hair and a surfboard under your arm, going back
into the ocean because the ocean is where you
belong. Thank you so much for listening today
on Bloom Talks. If Bethany inspired you, even
half as much as she did me, make sure you subscribe
and come back tomorrow. Until then, stay safe,
keep growing and take care of yourself. And maybe
don't dangle your arm in shark -infested waters,
but hey, you do you.