Plucky surfer.(The Goodness Of America)

On November 27, 2003 (Thanksgiving Day), 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton of Princeville, Kauai, Hawaii, went surfing near Rock Quarry beach at the eastern end of the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. As reported in the December 2 Honolulu Advertiser, "she had some difficulty with her balance and missed the first two waves she tried for, but got the board sliding down the third and surfed it aggressively." She enjoyed the venture so much that she went again the next day.

Thousands of teens surf, but Bethany's story is special because less than four weeks earlier, while she was surfing the West Reef area fronting Tunnels Beach in Ha'ena off Kauai's north shore, a shark had bitten off her left arm four inches below the shoulder. Details of her ordeal and recovery, and her positive outlook and effervescent personality, captivated the nation and became one of the year's most inspiring and uplifting news events.

At around 5 a.m. on October 31, Bethany arose and leaded out for a morning of surfing with her best friend, Alana Blanchard, as well as Alana's father, Holt, and brother, Byron. At 7:30 a.m. she took a break, resting on her surfboard with her arm dangling in the ocean. Suddenly, what is believed to have been a 12- to 15-foot tiger shark attacked the teen, bit off her arm (along with a chunk of surfboard), and disappeared.

Holt Blanchard was nearby, but did not see the shark. He only heard Bethany calmly say, "I got attacked by a shark." At first he thought she was kidding, because she neither struggled nor screamed. But "all of a sudden she was paddling in toward Byron and Alana and myself. And I saw blood in the water and I realized she did get attacked. I paddled up to her and at that point I noticed her arm was gone."

Mr. Blanchard has been credited with saving the young the girl's life. First, he bound the wound with his T-shirt. Then Bethany, who remained conscious throughout the ordeal, held on to his leg as he swam toward shore, where he applied a tourniquet fashioned from a surfboard leash to what remained of the arm.

Bethany was rushed by ambulance to Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihue, the same hospital where, coincidentally, Bethany's father, Tom, had been scheduled for knee surgery that morning. Dr. David Rovinsky broke the news to him. The physician told the November 21 edition of ABC's 20/20: "I knew how it would affect Tom, and it's the hardest news you can share with another parent." Mr. Hamilton recalled, "I just prayed to God that she'd survive."

She did, and 20/20 reported that ...