(CNN) — When American swimmer Ali Truwit first got back into the water after losing her leg in a shark attack, the sound of water rippling around the pool “triggered flashbacks” to that day.
“It was really, really hard,” she told CNN’s Don Riddell. “At that point physically, the temperature of the water sent what felt like electric shocks throughout my leg because it was newly amputated with all of these new nerve endings and then emotionally hearing the sound of water triggered flashbacks to the attack.”
But at the same time, there were “glimmers of hope,” she added, “moments in the water that felt peaceful and joyful” as she sought to reclaim her “love of water.”
And just 16 months after that life-changing day, she was swimming on the biggest stage of all, winning two Paralympic silver medals in Paris in the women’s S10 400-meter freestyle and 100m backstroke.
“It’s an indescribable feeling, but it’s on the shoulders of so many who have been such a great support to me this year and even in the stands in Paris,” she said.
Truwit was a competitive swimmer for Yale University, where she majored in cognitive science and economics, and was on holiday with her teammate Sophie Pilkinton, snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos Islands when the attack happened.
“It was a terrifying day, a terrifying time and a terrible moment, one that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy,” Truwit said. “But when I look back now, I really try to instead focus on the strength that Sophie and I showed and how grateful I am for Sophie’s composure and medical knowledge and expertise, but selflessness and friendship to save my life.”
They managed to fight off the shark and swim back to the boat where her friend applied a tourniquet to stem the bleeding. Truwit was then airlifted to hospital where doctors operated three times and eventually amputated her left leg just below the knee on her 23rd birthday.
“I definitely have flashbacks to the attack and you know in the early days had several nightmares,” she said. “My mom would spend countless sleepless nights with me helping coach me through them. But I think just learning to face fear, learning that I can have a flashback and I’m ok and I get through it.”
Within the first month of the attack, Noelle Lambert, an American Paralympic track and field athlete who also competed in Paris, had contacted Truwit and “planted the seed” of competing at a Paralympic Games.
“It started … just with a quest to regain my love of the water and then a quest to get some exercise and cardio which I was sorely missing and it started to kind of unfold into what if? What if I could make it?,” she said.
“And typically when I have what ifs they don’t end very positive. They’re kind of nervous and anxious thoughts and so it was exciting to me that I had a what if that was so exciting and happy amidst a lot of sadness and tears.”
And as she competed in Paris, her family, her coach – who came out of retirement to guide her back to competitive swimming – and her friends, including those who saved her life, were all there cheering in the stands as she clinched her silver medals
“My lifesavers, heroes, sisters, best friends. The most selfless incredible caring strong inspirations I’ll ever have,” she wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of the two friends she says saved her life.
The-CNN-Wire
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