This Saturday, while many families are handing out candy, it is worth remembering a different October 31. On that day in 2003, a 13-year-old girl paddled out to surf with a friend on the island of Kauai. By the end of the morning, her life had changed forever.
Her name is Bethany Hamilton. What she did next is why people around the world still tell her story.
A Girl Born to the Waves
Bethany was born on February 8, 1990, in Lihue, Kauai. According to Britannica, her parents, Tom and Cheri, were avid surfers, and she grew up with two older brothers who surfed too. She won her first competition at age eight and had her first sponsor by age nine. After sixth grade she was homeschooled so she could focus on surfing, and she was already winning regional and national contests.
She was a young girl with a big dream, and it seemed to be coming true.
The Morning Everything Changed
On October 31, 2003, Bethany was surfing at Makua Beach, known to locals as Tunnels, on Kauai’s north shore. A 14-foot tiger shark attacked while she was paddling. It took her left arm just below the shoulder.
Britannica records that she kept hold of her board. Her friends called for help, and she was rushed to the hospital. She had lost a great deal of blood and needed several surgeries.
Many people expected that her surfing days were over. She was 13 years old.
Back on the Board in a Month
About one month after the attack, Bethany was back in the water. She had to relearn how to paddle, how to balance and how to pop up on her board with one arm. Within a year she was entering competitions again.
The results speak for themselves:
- 2004: She shared her story in the book Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board.
- 2005: She won a national surfing title.
- 2007: She turned professional.
- 2008: She began her first season on the World Surf League tour.
- 2011: The feature film Soul Surfer told her story. Britannica notes that she served as a surfing stunt double for her own character.
- 2019: The documentary Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable followed her life through marriage and motherhood.
Faith at the Center
Bethany has spoken openly about her Christian faith, and it runs through her books and films. In a 2013 talk at Liberty University, reported by the school’s news service, she said, “God taught me that He can take the hard times that I went through and turn them into something beautiful.” She added, “I think that He can do that for each and every one of you.”
In that same talk she said something many people find hard to imagine saying: “I would never take back losing my arm because I know God allowed me to go through something like this.”
Those are not easy words. They come from someone who has walked through real pain and found that God was still good on the other side of it.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
— Romans 8:28 (KJV)
Turning Her Storm Into Help for Others
Bethany did not keep her comeback to herself. In 2007 she helped found Friends of Bethany Hamilton, a Christian nonprofit that supports people after shark attacks and other life-changing injuries. Her official website also describes a retreat for young women ages 14 to 25 who live with limb differences or the loss of a limb, a place where girls facing what she faced can find friendship and hope.
In 2013 she married Adam Dirks, a youth minister. Together they are raising a family, and the two even wrote a children’s picture book, Unstoppable Me.
What Bethany’s Story Teaches Us
Most of us will never face a shark. But all of us will face a morning when something is taken from us that we cannot get back. Bethany’s life offers a few gentle lessons for those days:
- Get back in the water. Healing takes time, but small brave steps matter. She did not wait until everything felt normal.
- Learn a new way. She did not surf exactly as before. She adjusted her technique and kept going.
- Lean on family and faith. Her book’s subtitle names both, side by side with the fight to get back on the board.
- Use your story to lift someone else. The pain that nearly ended her dream became a way to help others carry theirs.
Twenty-three years after that Halloween morning, Bethany Hamilton is still a reminder that a storm can take a lot from us, but it does not get the last word. Through every storm, we rise together.
Who in your life got back on the board after a hard loss, and what helped them rise again?
Sources: Britannica, “Bethany Hamilton” (accessed Oct 28, 2026); Britannica Kids, “Bethany Hamilton” (accessed Oct 28, 2026); Liberty University News, “Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton shares testimony” (Oct 16, 2013); BethanyHamilton.com, retreat page (accessed Oct 28, 2026); KJV Romans 8:28
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