Surf icon Bethany Hamilton pleads for medical miracle after ‘precious’ nephew is found unconscious in bath
Surf icon Bethany Hamilton has asked for a medical miracle for her ‘precious’ nephew, who is fighting for his life in Hawaii.
Bethany’s three-year-old nephew, Andrew, was found unconscious and not breathing in a bathtub. He was taken to Kapiolani in Oahu on Saturday morning.
According to his concerned family, the young boy still has a heartbeat and a “fight inside him” but is currently in intensive care following the drowning incident.
Shark attack survivor Bethany, 34, said: “We are wrecked. But I know how good medical support can make or break someone’s chance of survival.
“In this case, we are asking for the help of anyone who has information about what we can do to give my nephew the best chances.”
Bethany’s brother Noah, who is not Andrew’s father, also asked people for prayers, calling his little nephew a “strong, resilient kid” and a “great swimmer.”
Surf icon Bethany Hamilton posted Saturday that she needed a medical miracle for her nephew who drowned in Hawaii
Her brother Noah Hamilton said his cousin Andrew couldn’t breathe in the shallow water of a bathtub
He wrote, “Join us in praying for Andrew, my brother’s fifth youngest child, as he was flown to Oahu in the middle of the night.
‘He’s three-and-a-half and going to five. He is a strong, resilient boy and a great swimmer. He appeared unable to breathe in the shallow water of the bathtub. His vitals were sufficient to get him to Oahu.”
The family managed to find Dr. Paul Harch, a world-renowned expert in the field of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for drowning children.
It was his son who informed Bethany under her post: “Dr. Harch is my father. I just sent you a message with his mobile number. He wants you to call him. Sending lots of love to you and your family.”
HBOT in which a patient breathes pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. It aims to increase the level of oxygen dissolving into the bloodstream, which could help heal brain tissue.
In one exceptional case, Harch was able to reverse 2-year-old Eden Carlson’s brain damage — after she smashed her way through the baby gate and a heavy door and then jumped into the family pool in Arkansas in February 2017.
When her mother found her, she was lying face down and motionless.
After two hours of CPR and seventeen EpiPen injections, her heart started beating again, but doctors warned she would remain in a vegetative state for the rest of her life.
Andrew (bottom row photo, center, surrounded by his family) was transferred to Kapiolani in Oahu on Saturday morning and still has a heartbeat, according to Bethany
Pictured: Little Andrew and his family, begging for prayers after the tragedy
In the photo: doctor Paul Harch. In one exceptional case, Harch was able to reverse 2-year-old Eden Carlson’s brain damage — after she smashed her way through the baby gate and a heavy door and then jumped into the family pool in Arkansas in February 2017.
Now, in what is believed to be a world first, Eden is running, talking and laughing with as much energy as before – after undergoing 40 rounds of oxygen therapy.
The results were so stark and Eden’s MRI scans improved so markedly that her case has been published in a medical journal, Medical Gas Research.
The therapy is not FDA approved and is not covered by insurance.
Bethany is best known for a shark attack at the age of 13 that almost derailed her career.
In 2003, while surfing off the coast of Kauai with a friend’s family, a 15-foot tiger shark bit off her left arm just below the shoulder.
The others were able to swim her back to shore and apply a tourniquet, but by the time she arrived at the hospital she had already lost 60 percent of her blood.
A tiger shark captured and killed shortly after the attack had pieces of a surfboard stuck in its jaws, and was later determined to be the attacking shark.
Despite her devastating injury, Bethany took less than a month to recover before returning to surfing, and she had her first professional competition after the attack in 2004.
Their hopes were fulfilled when they saw Dr. Paul Harch – a world-renowned expert in hyperbaric oxygen therapy for pediatric drownings.
Bethany is best known for a shark attack at the age of 13 that almost derailed her career
In the most recent update, Bethany (pictured) wrote that they were looking for a doctor who specializes in the hyperbaric chamber in Queens of Kuakini in Oahu and if anyone knew any information to contact
Social media users sent warm wishes to the family.
One wrote: ‘Miracles really do exist! Our 13-year-old daughter drowned during a breath-holding competition with her friends. She fainted and was underwater for at least 10 minutes before she was discovered.
“Prayers, CPR and significant medical interventions brought her back to us. We were blessed that she made an almost full recovery. Praying for your family.”
Another wrote: ‘He has a heartbeat. Hallelujah, who demands air in his lungs, and his brain lobes remain untouched.’
In the most recent update yesterday, Bethany wrote that they were looking for a doctor who specializes in the hyperbaric chamber in Queens of Kuakini in Oahu and if anyone knew any information they could reach.