Surfing legend Bethany Hamilton has broken her silence on the tragic death of her nephew, who passed away after being found unconscious in a bathtub.
Andrew Samuel Hamilton, three, died on Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii, days after he suffered injuries during the drowning incident at his home.
The famous surfer posted a heartfelt tribute on Instagram saying her family will miss the young boy dearly and thanked fans for their support in praying for a medical miracle.
‘The Lord has receive my sweet nephew Andrew into his beautiful care. While my family and I will miss him dearly, we trust that his joy is full with Jesus,’ Hamilton said.
‘Here is a prayer of faith that was prayed by my brother, and our whole family, this last week. This prayer paints so incredibly what it is to have faith. Faith is to trust that God’s will for our life is greater than our own.
Surfing legend Bethany Hamilton wrote her family will miss the young boy dearly and thanked fans for their support in praying for a medical miracle
The renowned surfer’s nephew Andrew Samuel Hamilton, 3, died on Thursday in Oahu, Hawaii, after being found unconscious in the bathtub on October 12
‘Thank you all for the love, prayers and support is this trying time. Be blessed.’
Fans posted their condolences for the Hamilton family’s loss.
One fan said: ‘My sincerest condolences and prayers to you and your family. Andrew is on his new path with a greater purpose and while his time here was shorter than desired it was so precious. Until you meet again.’
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Former Hawaii U.S Representative Tulsi Gabbard chimed in with support for the family.
‘Thank you. We are lifting up Andrew and the whole family up in our prayers as you find peace and shelter in the warm embrace of God’s unconditional and eternal love,’ Gabbard said.
In his message announcing Andrew’s passing, the boy’s father said it came only after ‘all of the best life-saving interventions had been exhausted.’
‘It hurts terribly and we miss Andrew more than words can express,’ his father said in a heartbreaking Instagram post.
He said he will be mourned by his many loved ones, and ‘by his family in Christ’, whose ‘steadfast prayers at Andrew’s bedside and preaching of God’s Words to our broken hearts has sustained our souls this past week.’
‘It hurts terribly and we miss Andrew more than words can express,’ he continued.
‘It hurts terribly and we miss Andrew more than words can express,’ his father said in a heartbreaking Instagram post. Pictured: Andrew being held by his mother Kyah
In his message announcing Andrew’s passing, the boy’s father (right) said it came only after ‘all of the best life-saving interventions had been exhausted’
Hamilton wrote on Saturday: ‘Thank you all for the love, prayers and support is this trying time. Be blessed’
Andrew was found unconscious and not breathing inside a bathtub on October 11 after his parents soaked him in Epsom salts and six inches of water after he came down with a fever.
The boy was 15-feet away from the kitchen and living room when they found him unconscious, which they wrote was ‘baffling’ since he was a ‘amazing swimmer’.
After they were able to get a heartbeat with chest compressions he was brought to the hospital and later medevacked to Kapiolani in Oahu on the morning of October 12.
Bethany, a renowned shark attack survivor, told her fans after Andrew was hospitalized: ‘We are wrecked. But I know how proper medical support can make or break someone’s chance of survival.
‘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.’
Bethany’s brother Noah, who is not Andrew’s dad, also asked people for prayers – calling his little nephew a ‘strong, resilient kid’ and an ‘amazing swimmer.’
He wrote: ‘Join us in prayer for my brother’s fifth youngest child Andrew as he was life-flighted to Oahu in the middle of the night.
‘He’s three-and-a-half going on five. He’s a strong resilient kid and an amazing swimmer. He was found not breathing in shallow water of bathtub. His vitals were enough to get him to Oahu.’
On Saturday the family revealed Andrew had succumbed to his injuries after exhausting all ‘life-saving measures’.
Bethany, a renowned shark attack survivor, told her fans on October 12 after Andrew was hospitalized: ‘We are wrecked. But I know how proper medical support can make or break someone’s chance of survival’
For Andrew’s treatment, the family were able to get ahold of Dr. Paul Harch – a world-renowned expert on hyperbaric oxygen therapy in cases of children drowning but were told he’d have to be medevacked to the mainland to use his services
The mention of Andrew’s medical update while he was alive was his ventilator had to be switched out due to carbon monoxide being detected in his blood on Wednesday night
Bethany is best known for a shark attack at age 13 that nearly derailed her career
Bethany is best known for a shark attack at age 13 that nearly derailed her career.
In 2003, while she was surfing off the coast of Kauai with a friend’s family, a 14ft tiger shark bit off her left arm just below the shoulder.
The others were able to swim her back to shore and put a tourniquet on, but she had already lost 60 percent of her blood by the time she arrived at the hospital.
A tiger shark that was caught and killed shortly after the attack had pieces of a surfboard lodged in its jaws, and it was later determined to have been 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 contest after the attack in 2004.