A SWIMMER is aiming for gold at the Paralympics one year after she had her leg ripped off by a shark.
Ali Truwit never thought she would get back into the pool after a shark attack triggered a fear of water.
The competitive swimmer’s path to the Paralympics began when she reclaimed her love of water and waded waist deep into her backyard pool.
Through her determination, Truwit has qualified for the 100m freestyle, 400m freestyle and the 100m backstroke.
She said: “I love comeback stories.
“I’ve definitely relied on other people’s comeback stories to help me hold on to what feels like a bold and unrealistic hope — of fighting off a shark and surviving and losing a limb and making the Paralympics all in a year.”
The 24-year-old was snorkelling in the ocean off Turks and Caicos on May 24, 2023 when a shark bit Truwit’s lower leg off.
With the bull shark circling, the competitive swimmer raced 75 yards towards the safety of the boat.
She was then rushed to hospital and airlifted back to America where doctors amputated her leg below the knee.
Before the horror shark attack, Truwit had just graduated from Yale University after a career in the pool.
She and some friends had gone snorkelling in Turks and Caicos in an area not known for sharks.
On their way back to the boat, a shark aggressively approached and began bumping them.
She said: “We tried to fight back.
And then what was believed to be a bull shark bit Truwit on the foot and lower leg.
She said: “My immediate thought was, ‘Am I crazy or do I not have a foot right now?
“It was a really hard image for me. But you move immediately into action.”
Truwit was later airlifted to a trauma hospital in Miami for two surgeries to fight infections.
Her third surgery to amputate her leg below the knee happened on her 23rd birthday in a hospital in New York.
Despite her hardship, Truwit put her mind and body to work and focused on getting ready for the Paralympic qualifiers.
She went through prosthetic training and strength exercises.
She also worked with trauma therapists, which led to narrative therapy to re-author her life and combat her nightmares.
She said: “I’m not someone who waits.
“So that I don’t let fear rule my life.
“I had lost enough and anything that was on the table for me to regain, I was going to fight to regain it.
“I didn’t want to lose a limb and my love of the water, too.”
Three and a half months later, Truwit was back in the water and competing.
She said: “I was just really curious how I was going to feel being back on the pool deck and back in a competitive space.
“The more I worked at it, the flashbacks reduced and the pain lessened.”
And her resilience and training paid off.
Truwit qualified for nationals in Orlando, Florida, where she swam freestyle and backstroke, she then attended an international meet in Portugal.
At the US. Paralympic trials in Minneapolis, Truwit won the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle and the 400m freestyle.
She joins a team that includes Paralympic swimming great Jessica Long and a host of returning medalists from Tokyo.
Truwit said: “I think hearing my name on that team was just a reminder to me that I’m stronger than I think.
“That we’re all stronger than we think.”
She added to NBC News: “I’m unique in that I was attacked by a shark, but I’m not unique in that we all go through hardship and trauma and tough times in life.
“We all have the capacity to rise back up.”
