Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990, in Lihue, Hawaii, to Tom and Cheri Hamilton. Noah and Timothy are her two older brothers. After learning to surf at the age of three, she began competing at the age of eight and had her first sponsorship by the age of ten. Hamilton was home-schooled by her mother, a housewife, from sixth grade to high school. Her father worked as a waiter in a local café. She is a devout Christian.
Hamilton, then 13, went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach in Kauai with her best friend Alana Blanchard, Alana’s father and brother. A 14-foot-long (4.3-meter) tiger shark attacked her while she was lying belly-down on her surfboard and talking with Alana.
The shark quickly bit off her left arm, which was dangling in the water just below the shoulder. Alana’s father made a tourniquet out of a rash guard and wrapped it around the stump of her arm after the Blanchards helped paddle her back to shore. She was taken to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
She had lost more than 60% of her blood by the time she arrived and was in hypovolemic shock. A doctor from a nearby hotel rushed to the hospital to treat her. Her father, who had knee surgery that 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 that she did not feel much pain from the bite, but that she felt numb on the way to the hospital.
Bethany Hamilton Siblings: Meet Noah Hamilton & Timothy Hamilton
Noah and Timothy are her two older brothers. After learning to surf at the age of three, she began competing at the age of eight and had her first sponsorship by the age of ten.