A woman who lost her leg in the Boston Marathon bombings received answers to her unexpected loss after meeting Mike Coots, a surfer who had his lower-leg amputated as a result of a shark-bite.
Friends of Bethany Hamilton Foundation arranged a team to meet with the Boston Marathon amputees this week to deliver encouragements and gifts from Hawaii as they seek to share the love of Jesus Christ with those affected by this tragic event. The team consisted of FOBH board members, Coots, speak and youth mentor Sarah Hill, who was played by Carrie Underwood in the movie Soul Surfer, and Bethany’s father Tom Hamilton.
The team arrived at Beth Israel Deaconnes Medical Center in the midst of large media presence as federal charges were placed on the 19-year-old bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They proceeded to meet with amputees, youth patients, and patients in general.
Coots and the team met with a woman who lost her leg in the bombing and encouraged her.
“She was a different person from the moment we walked in to the moment we left. God is good and I truly feel like she needed that. We had to hold back the tears while walking away,” said one of the FOBH board members, according to the foundation’s Facebook page.
As of Monday, the foundation has raised around $10,800 as part of their $20,000 goal that would be donated entirely to the Boston Marathon amputees. The foundation has also designed Limited Edition Hope for Boston shirts as a gift to the survivors. They are now offering it to supporters and the proceeds will go towards FOBH’s “Amputee Scholarship” to support the Boston amputees.
Bethany Hamilton then posted a Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3 to 4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
Bethany Hamilton survived a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off. She is known for overcoming the injury and ultimately returned to professional surfing. Since the attack, she has appeared on numerous television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, as well as in magazines People, Time and American Girl. She has also received the Courage Teen Choice Award.
In March 2011, Hamilton did a video for the Christian organization, I AM Second, telling about her struggle after the shark attack and show she trusted in God to get her through it.
On April 8, 2011, a docudrama feature film Soul Surfer, based on her 2004 book, was released. Hamilton is portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb, with Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Craig T. Nelson, Carrie Underwood, Lorraine Nicholson, and Kevin Sorbo also starring in the film. Hamilton performs for all the one-armed surfing stunts in the film.
In 2012, Hamilton met with limbless evangelist Nick Vujicic and taught him how to surf.
On FOBH's website, a photo showed Hamilton surfing and a quote that she said, "Life is not about having all your limbs or having everything perfect. Life is not perfect. But through our imperfection we can bring beauty and good stuff out of life and glorify God through what we overcome,” wrote Bethany Hamilton.
