Bethany Meilani Hamilton, born February 8, 1990, is an American professional surfer and writer who survived a shark attack in 2003 and eventually returned to professional surfing. In her 2004 autobiography, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, which was adapted into the 2011 feature film, Soul Surfer, she attributes her strength to her Christian faith.

Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, a 2018 documentary, also discusses her marriage to Adam Dirks and how marriage and motherhood have affected her professional surfing career.

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 Husband: Meet Adams Dirks

Hamilton met youth minister Adam Dirks through mutual friends in early 2012. They got engaged in 2013. On August 18, 2013, the couple married at an estate on Kauai’s north shore, near where she grew up.

They have three sons, born on June 1, 2015, March 27, 2018, and February 14, 2021. Their marriage is featured in Bethany Hamilton’s documentary, Unstoppable. She is a professional surfer who also teaches mentorship classes on faith, healing, personal health, and relationships.