Bethany gets first prosthesis
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — World-ranked amateur surfing champion Bethany Hamilton, who lost an arm in a shark attack last year, received her first prosthetic arm yesterday in Los Angeles, a week after learning to snowboard with her family on a visit to Steamboat Springs, Colo.
As part of her whirlwind Mainland tour, the 13-year-old Hanalei girl also taped an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago, appeared on a popular Toronto talk show, and gave interviews to Glamour magazine and "Entertainment Tonight" in Los Angeles.
Bethany Hamilton
"The best thing was my last day of snowboarding," Hamilton said by phone last night as she headed to a concert by teen sensation Hilary Duff. "I was getting better and went on real hard runs. It was a lot of fun."
The Kaua'i teenager, who is also a competitive skateboarder, nearly died when she was attacked by a tiger shark who bit off her left arm Oct. 31 as she was surfing at the Tunnels reef surf break off Ha'ena.
