How Paralympian Ali Truwit Is Swimming for Gold After a Shark Attack

Prince William & Kate Middleton Share Inspiring Message to 2024 Paralympians

Ali Truwit told her parents to enactment distant each of her shorts and mini-skirts. The NCAA swimmer didn't privation to deterioration thing that would amusement her prosthesis, fto unsocial what remained of her near limb aft she was attacked by a shark portion snorkeling successful Turks and Caicos connected May 24, 2023.

"To spot your limb you've seen for 23 years, and it conscionable ends close there...that was hard," Ali told ESPN of the affectional trauma that accompanied the carnal discomfort of having her limb amputated beneath the knee.

But it wasn't agelong earlier the Yale graduate, who spent 4 years swimming for the Bulldogs, missed the water. With a floaty astir her tummy conscionable successful lawsuit her assemblage had an unpredictable reaction, she waded into her family's backyard excavation successful July 2023.

Fast-forward one twelvemonth and she isn't lone feeling much confident: She's competing successful the 400m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke astatine the 2024 Paralympics, present underway successful Paris done Sept. 8.

"We made the split-second determination to aquatics for our lives," recalled Ali, who initially thought a dolphin had sidled up to her, "roughly 75 yards successful the unfastened water h2o backmost to the boat."

Once they were backmost onboard, Sophie—who successful summation to being Ali's teammate astatine Yale was besides a aesculapian student—tied a tourniquet astir her friend's precocious thigh. 

Ali told ESPN that she remembered mumbling to Sophie, "I ran a marathon past week. And present I don't person a foot?"

Before she was medevaced from the infirmary successful Turks and Caicos to Ryder Trauma Center successful Miami, the vessel unit that took Ali and Sophie retired snorkeling really recovered her foot, intact and inactive successful the flipper.

The appendage was packed successful crystal for the travel backmost to the U.S., giving Ali anticipation that doctors could reattach it.

But upon accomplishment successful Miami, it wasn't adjacent an option. Her limb was infected, and stopping that from spreading was precedence No. 1. First, she underwent a process to region infected and dormant insubstantial from her injured leg, then—once she started to respond to antibiotics and her captious signs stabilized—another country to wide retired remaining signs of the infection.

After which she was flown to New York, wherever doctors performed what's known arsenic a transtibial amputation connected May 31, 2023, Ali's 23rd birthday.

That September, hardly 4 months aft the attack, she asked her erstwhile coach, James Barone, if he'd articulation her again.

Ali ended up taking location a metallic medal from the U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships successful Orlando past December, past won 3 events en way to qualifying for the 2024 Paralympics astatine the U.S. Trials successful June.

She is categorized arsenic S10, which is for swimmers with minimal weakness affecting their legs, missing feet, a missing limb beneath the genu oregon hep problems.

"If astatine immoderate constituent successful clip she had texted maine oregon called maine and said, 'You cognize what, I’m conscionable going to curl up successful a shot today, and I’m going to cry,'" James, who came retired of status to manager Ali, said connected TODAY, "everyone successful the satellite would beryllium like, 'That checks out. You instrumentality the day, you bash whatever.'" But successful her case, helium added, "Not once. She has ne'er erstwhile missed a time of practice."

Ali has also, incidentally, go overmuch much comfy with her prostheses—per ESPN, she has a achromatic 1 for walking astir and a cosmetic 1 that matches her tegument tone—and she hopes to beryllium capable to tally different marathon sooner alternatively than later, utilizing a blade.

"There are a batch of challenges for maine with assemblage image, learning to emotion my caller assemblage and judge it and larn that it's beauteous successful its ain right," she said connected Good Morning America in August. "And I deliberation that's been thing that's been truthful immense for me."

At the aforesaid time, she noted, "I'm relearning beingness without an ankle. I person to larn however to beryllium again and basal again, and locomotion again, and run, and however to bash stairs and the mundane challenges."

Throughout her recovery, Ali has made a constituent of spotlighting everyone who's been successful her corner, from her parents, her 3 brothers, her manager and friends to the doctors and unit astatine the assorted hospitals wherever she was treated.

And her enactment strategy is vast, Ali's Instagram awash successful photos of each the radical who person showed up for her.

"Today marks 1 twelvemonth since the shark attack," she posted May 24. "In a flash, my beingness was astir taken from me. And, successful a flash, I’m warring to instrumentality it close back. I grieve, and I cry, and past I retrieve without my heroes, I’d person died. Making Today Celebrate My Heroes Day."

Knowing she was fortunate that her household could screen her sizeable aesculapian expenses, Ali has besides launched the instauration Stronger Than You Think, to assistance with the costs of prostheses and betterment attraction for amputees.

"I emotion comeback stories," she told the AP ahead of her travel to Paris. "I've decidedly relied connected different people's comeback stories to assistance maine clasp connected to what feels similar a bold and unrealistic hope—of warring disconnected a shark and surviving and losing a limb and making the Paralympics each successful a year."

There were "a batch of acheronian days" betwixt past and now, she noted. "But I'm live and I astir wasn't."

When she qualified for the Paralympics, she said, "I deliberation proceeding my sanction connected that squad was conscionable a reminder to maine that I'm stronger than I think. That we're each stronger than we think."