Teen shark victim: Can't wait to surf again
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Bethany Hamilton
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(CNN) -- Less than a month after losing her left arm in a shark attack in Hawaii, teen surfer Bethany Hamilton is more than ready to return to the water. On Thanksgiving Day, Hamilton, 13, will try surfing for the first time since the shark bite.
Hamilton described the attack Tuesday to CNN anchor Bill Hemmer, and said her family and faith helped her to maintain a positive attitude throughout her ordeal.
HAMILTON: We were out for about a half hour and I caught about 10 waves and then I was laying on my board sideways, parallel to the waves, and ... my left arm was laying in the water and my other arm was just holding on to my board and the shark, just, like came up and attacked me and it, like, kind of pulled me back and forth.
It was about a two to three second period and when it ... was attacking me all I saw was like a gray blur and then, like, it was wrapped around my board about halfway -- not around my board, my arm and then ... he just pulled me in and then when we got to the shore he [her friend's father] tied a leash around my arm as a tourniquet and after that I blacked out and when I woke up I was laying on the beach.
HEMMER: What do you remember feeling at that point? Were you in shock would you say, Bethany?
HAMILTON: I was just in shock. I didn't feel any pain, which I'm really lucky because if I felt pain things might not have gone as well.
HEMMER: Had you been afraid of sharks before this happened?
HAMILTON: Every surfer probably thinks about sharks and is scared of them, but I didn't really think I'd ever get attacked by one and most people don't, so I never really thought of anything like this.
HEMMER: I understand this Thursday on Thanksgiving you plan on going back in the water for the first time, is that right?
HAMILTON: Yeah. I can't wait to get out on Thursday and I'm really excited and not really scared of any sharks. I want to make sure that I catch the first wave on my own with no one else's help and I want to stay out for as long as I can.
HEMMER: Why did you pick Thanksgiving to do this?
HAMILTON: Actually I didn't choose go out on Thanksgiving. If I was to choose I'd be out right now, but my doctor told me I couldn't go out because on Thursday I got my stitches out and he said a week. So Thanksgiving was just the day.
HEMMER: Have you found yourself, reaching for things with your left arm as this substantial adjustment for yourself continues?
HAMILTON: No, I haven't really felt that, but I have like this little phantom pain where, like, it feels like it's still there, but it doesn't really feel like it's moving or anything.
HEMMER: Can you relay that to us at all? What is that like?
HAMILTON: It's, like, weird. It feels like it's still there, but it's kind of like a pressure on my arm, but it feels like totally abnormal.
HEMMER: I understand you're working on a prosthesis now, talking with doctors. What can you tell us about that?
HAMILTON: I will be going to visit them soon, in the next couple of weeks in California and I'm looking forward to that, and we did meet this surfer that lost his arm and he has a good -- he is an engineer and he made his own arm especially for surfing and he might help us out a lot.
HEMMER: What would it mean to you if you were not able to get on a board again in the water?
HAMILTON: I don't know. That would be, like, the worst thing ever. I'd probably be not so happy and I'd be in a bad mood, and I'd have a hard time.
