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Injured surfer took dad's place in operating room

Honolulu Advertiser
Nov. 4, 2003 01:50 PM

LIHU'E, Kauai - Orthopedic surgeon David Rovinsky told a man lying on the operating table last Friday that he'd have to move.

Rovinsky needed to clear the operating room for emergency surgery on a 13-year-old female shark attack victim.

Patient Tom Hamilton, his legs already numbed for surgery, knew his youngest child was out surfing that morning, as she was most days when there was surf.

He said, "Oh, God, please. Not my daughter."

Rovinsky had to tell him the news: Tom's daughter Bethany, a teenage surfing sensation ready to turn professional, had lost her left arm to a 14-foot shark.

"I started crying and told him it was his daughter. It was the hardest news I've ever had to deliver to a patient," Rovinsky said. "I have two children of my own."

Tom Hamilton was in the hospital for surgery on torn cartilage in his knee.

"His major complaint was that his knee was bugging him, and he couldn't surf with his daughter," Rovinsky said.

As the hospital staff moved Tom Hamilton to a gurney, "He said, 'Do what you can for my daughter,' " Rovinsky said.

Rovinsky, who is on staff at Honolulu 's Shriner's Hospital for Children, which treats kids who have orthopedic problems, said the prognosis for Bethany is excellent.

"She's is an incredible athlete, a very strong woman," Rovinsky said. "The list of things that she'll have to do differently is long, but the list of things she'll be unable to do is short."

The stub of her arm is short, but can be used in connection with a range of prosthetic devices, he said. However, he said it's not certain she'll use them.

"If you look at kids, about half of them abandon their prosthetics," at least for everyday use, Rovinsky said. However, he said he expects Bethany to design her own prosthetic devices for specific things she'd like to do. For some things, such as surfing, she may not even need special gear once she develops techniques for things such as paddling and ducking through waves, he said.

Bethany had already been up and walking around the hospital during the weekend. In a press release issued by her family through Wilcox Hospital , she said, "I'm OK."

Bethany has also asked about when she can get back in the water. Rovinsky said he will allow it in two to four weeks, "as soon as the wounds heal."

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