Bethany Hamilton Addresses Comment Amid Nephew Drowning—’My Brain Is Maxed’

Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton has pleaded for information to help her nephew who drowned in Hawaii and needs treatment.

Hamilton rose to fame more than 20 years ago, when, as a 13-year-old aspiring pro surfer, she was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, which bit off her left arm. Newsweek contacted Hamilton by email for comment.

She returned to competitive surfing, but in the past few days, admitted to being “maxed” out as her family tried to find the best treatment for her nephew, Andrew. The young boy drowned and was flown to Oahu in her home state of Hawaii.

Andrew is the fifth child of her older brother, Tim Hamilton, who has six children with wife, Kyah Hamilton.

“HELP‼️ My precious nephew was medevaced to kapiolani in Oahu this morning after drowning last night. He still has a heartbeat and has fight in him,” Hamilton captioned a post on Instagram alongside photos of Andrew.

“We are wrecked. But I know how proper medical support can make or break someone’s chance of survival and in this case we’re asking for help from anyone who has information of what we can do to give my nephew the best chance.”

Hamilton then asked for people to message only her other brother, Noah Hamilton, if they “have timely information on other treatments to look into.”

Hamilton replied to many of the people in the comments of the post who were either offering their prayers or medical treatment advice.

However, she replied to one person, admitting she was having trouble keeping up with messages amid her family’s struggle.

“Post IG stories & reels about this and dm [direct message] the clinic,” wrote Instagram user @Kassandra_reume, to which Hamilton replied, “wait which clinic may brain is maxed right now.”

Elsewhere on Instagram, Tim Hamilton also gave an update about Andrew’s health.

“The past 48 hours have been beyond overwhelming, including all the support and prayers—of which we are incredibly grateful for. We are just giving Andrew as much love as we possibly can while he gets the best medical support possible,” Tim captioned the post.

“I don’t have much else to share at the moment and I won’t be responding to messages or comments but I will be reading through them eventually. Thank you.”

It has been a rough time for Tim and his family, as the dad-of-six has struggled with his own health issues.

In May this year, his wife, Kyah, set up a GoFundMe to raise money to cover his medical costs.

According to Kyah’s message on the GoFundMe page, Tim has diabetes and has battled spinal cord degeneration called myelomalacia from surf-related injuries. It has caused issues with his breathing, blood pressure, balance and appetite, among other problems.

“Treatment options are very limited and after much research we’ve decided to pursue umbilical stem cell therapy. This will require periodic travel and time away from work, besides costs of ongoing treatments and physical therapy,” Kyah wrote.

“As a farmer, Tim is used to working hard to provide for his family, but medical bills and time off work have added a significant burden to normal living expenses. Your contribution will help relieve some of the financial stress, allowing him to focus on his healing.”