A woman who was bitten by a shark and had to amputate her leg last year successfully took silver in the newly conducted Paralympics in Paris 2024.
Connecticut native Ali Truwit won the silver medal Thursday in the women’s swimming 400-meter freestyle.
It was only one year ago in May of 2023 that Truwit, after completion of her college, and her best friend decided to spend vacation in Turks and Caicos when she was attacked by a shark.
”The 1st time I got back in again was in July, which is a year ago,” Ali Truwit revealed to ‘Good Morning America’ in August before the Paralympics. ”I got back in with a floaty around my stomach because we weren’t sure how I was going to respond in the water again and now I am headed to the Paralympics.”
Muza said, “To represent my own country is kind of an incredible journey, which makes me feel proud and also really grateful.”
Truwit stated that she was out in the ocean snorkeling with her friend when the shark emerged what appeared to be from nowhere and went for them.
”We resisted and with a lot of effort, the shark disappeared and was soon back, grabbing my leg; then, within no time, it had bitten off my foot and part of my leg,” she said.
Truwit said that she and her friend had to swim about 75 yards to get back to the snorkeling boat.
On the boat, Truwit said that her friend used a tourniquet to stop the blood gushing from the leg. Truwit had to be airlifted to a hospital in Miami, where she had two surgeries to save her life.
She was later taken to another hospital in New York so that she could be closer to her family and friends at home, where she underwent a transstadial amputation of her left leg.
The surgery was done on May 31, 2023, which was Truwit’s birth day and 23 years of age.
Speaking of those times in her life, she said, “Very dark days. “ Yes, I exist and that is something I always endeavor, attempt or rather strive to live my life that has been given to me again fully.”
Adapting to a new normal
Truwit was able to get some mobility again with the aid of a prosthetic leg that she said made her life a little easier even though there were some challenges of adjusting to the new lifestyle.
Ankle operation is one thing that she said she is relearning how to live without. Again, it became imperative to learn how to sit, stand and walk again, run, and do stairs, as well as some other tests of a patient of physical therapy.
Said Truwit, she had pain in the leg and the danger of infection; besides, she had a hard time emotionally as well as physically.
“Well, there are a lot of obstacles for me when it comes to body issues… embracing my new physical self and learning that they are beautiful in their own way.” “And I think that has been something that has been so grand for me.”
When asked on the kind of process she had to endure in order to recover, Truwit referred to it as a “very long and bumpy road of ups and downs.
She said she had it with the help of family and friends; her thought process changed as well.
“I probably wanted to give myself the message early on that no matter what was going to happen to me, I was not going to let anything get in the way of pursuing things I enjoy as well as doing those that I believe I am capable of,” she said.
Reclaiming her passion by fighting back her fear
The incident also impacted Truwit’s love of water, which, as she stated her whole life, she had deemed the latter to be a place of solace.
To face the fear, Truwit said she swam in her backyard pool only six weeks after the leg was amputated.
“Mentally and physically, it was really hard [but] I had my physical therapists and my family, and we tried to slowly get me back in,” she added.
From there, she started contacting her senior coach, Jamie Barone, whom she further said had been training her when she was 12. She said she asked him to help her run sets for exercise again, of which he, she said, refused.
Touched by the same, Truwit said she felt it was the time to challenge her capacity to make it to Paris for the Paralympics, which she said was the most healing decision she could make for her recovery.
She told her mom, whom she said was a captain of the Yale University swimming team, that she would be participating in the Paralympics.
According to Truwit, she was introduced to the U. S. Paralympic swim program through one of her mom’s former teammates and she started training and competing in Paralympic swimming less than four months after her amputation surgery.
In June, she was in the Paralympic trials in Minneapolis and was selected to be a part of the U. S. team in the women’s 400-meter freestyle race.
For the period before the commencement of the Paralympic Games that began August 28th, we asked Truwit if she had to train for as long as 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. ‘Yes,’ she replied, training at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Centre in Colorado and with her private trainer in Stamford at Chelsea Piers in Connecticut.
“Well, it is cool when you are with your friends and other members of the team as well as the trainers to get to know more about the next things ahaed of you, so I am looking forward to all of it,” she added. I run with the American flag on my cap. Now to me, that is not only something that I cherish so much to be able to do, but it is also a way for me to be able to show my appreciation to the average American hero out there who have in one way or another contributed to the saving of my life and/or helping reconstruct my life.
Paralympics’ swimming started on the 29th of August and will end on the 7th of September.
Inspiring others through her journey
Before the attack by sharks, Truwit said she had always kept to herself, but when she got to know that sharing her story also benefits herself as well as others,.
“This exposure is new to me, and every time someone comes to me with deflection and says that listening to my story has gotten them through their trauma or watching my outlook or my mindset or the way I rebound has inspired them to do the same, that heals me,” she said. “That I know. That makes sense to me of what would otherwise be a crazy accident.”
When reflecting on her own process, from the time when she had to begin her healing process up to the present, Truwit said she saw the growth herself.
‘We are so much stronger than we think’, she added. We actually have so much more of what we can give and what we are capable of attaining and aspiring for. That is something that I find very inspiring.
