PAUL C. CURTIS - TGI Associate Editor
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Editor’s note: TGI Photographer Dennis Fujimoto accompanied Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky to an interview with Bethany Hamilton at a Kilauea home. Fujimoto shares his thoughts on Hamilton here. He took pictures for the entire two hours the interview lasted.

The experience of 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton of Princeville, who lost her left arm in a shark attack on Halloween morning, Friday, Oct. 31, has brought her close-knit family even tighter, said Dennis Fujimoto, sports editor and photographer at The Garden Island.

“What I sense is that the family got closer together. They appreciate each other more,” he said.

Among the surprising things Fujimoto saw or learned in the course of a two-hour photo session at a Kilauea home to accompany a story by Associated Press Writer Matt Sedensky, was the raw nature of Hamilton’s arm wound.

“I wasn’t ready for such a graphic presentation,” said Fujimoto.

But, more importantly, he was impressed with her “zest for life,” and her “acceptance” of the fact that she will live the rest of her life with just one arm.

“She’s really upbeat. Considering 13 year olds, they have this real free spirit about them. She still has that,” he said.

“She’s such a Joe-cool kid. She’s very intelligent,” surprising Fujimoto with some of the answers she gave to some of Sedensky’s questions.

“As far as the zest for life, whether we had a shark attack or not, it’s still there,” he observed.

Fujimoto knows a lot of people Hamilton’s age, because he shoots youth sports for the newspaper. “She’s just like one of them, except only one arm. She hasn’t lost any of her youthful spirit.”

And, she seems to hardly miss her left arm.

“I guess the arm, she doesn’t even think about, except when trying to open a bottle of water by herself,” something Fujimoto caught in the 80-plus images he took of the youngster.

Regarding her acceptance of her current condition, Fujimoto said he was also surprised about her willingness to joke about it.

She said people used to joke with her about how she used to flail her arms when she surfed. She has joked with them that that shouldn’t be as much of an issue now.

“She’s really matter-of-fact that she doesn’t have her left arm,” Fujimoto said.

Hamilton said the experience has been worth it just because due to her strong religious beliefs two other young girls have also found God.

Fujimoto thinks she and her family’s strong bind to church and religion is also a powerful factor in her resilience.

Any apprehension she has about the future has nothing to do with going through the rest of her life with just one arm, Fujimoto assessed.

It’s about the millions of questions she’ll be asked on the various TV shows, in newspaper offices, and in other venues, when she begins hitting the media circuit. A publicist hired by the family has set up many engagements already.

The “publicist kind of invisibly controls their lives,” he said.

There have been some benefits from all the media attention. After she mentioned she wants to try snowboarding, a mayor of a Colorado town offered her a stay, lift tickets and other free rides.

Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis can be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).