Bethany Hamilton’s brother reveals haunting split-second decision that saw his son, 3, almost drown
Bethany Hamilton’s brother tried to bathe his son Andrew in Epsom salts after he appeared ill before the boy nearly drowned in their bathtub.
The surfing icon has asked for a medical miracle for her ‘precious’ nephew Andrew, who is now fighting for his life in Hawaii.
On a fundraising page for the boy, his family tells the story of how he ended up in the hospital.
‘Andrew came down with a fever and threw up on Friday,’ father Timothy Hamilton wrote on a Support Now page aiming to raise $100,000.
They were bathing him in Epsom salts near the kitchen and living room when they found the boy unconscious.
Bethany Hamilton’s brother tried to bathe his son Andrew in Epsom salts after he appeared ill before the boy nearly drowned in their bathtub
The surfing icon has asked for a medical miracle for her ‘precious’ nephew Andrew, who is now fighting for his life in Hawaii
Timothy said his son is ‘the strongest child of his five siblings and an amazing open ocean swimmer.’
‘Chest compression began, he had a slight heartbeat. He spent a few hours at Wilcox hospital before medical evacuation to Oahu,’ he wrote.
Hamilton added that the doctors have been ‘amazing’ with their son but Andrew remains on life support and receiving emergency care.
They’re currently looking at obtaining Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy from a Dr. Paul Harch in New Orleans and looking into alternative and traditional treatments.
HBOT involves a patient breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. It aims to increase the level of oxygen that dissolves in the bloodstream – which could aid in healing brain tissue.
It was Dr. Harch’s son who notified Bethany under her post: ‘Dr. Harch is my father. I just messaged you with his cell number. He wants you to give him a call. Sending you and your family lots of love.’
In one extraordinary case, Harch was able to reverse the brain damage of 2-year-old Eden Carlson – after she pushed her way through the baby gate and a heavy door, then jumped into the family pool in Arkansas in February 2017.
When her mother found her, she was lying face-down and motionless.
Andrew (pictured bottom row, center, surrounded by his family) was medevacked to Kapiolani in Oahu on Saturday morning and still has a heartbeat, according to Bethany
Pictured: Dr Paul Harch. In one extraordinary case, Harch was able to reverse the brain damage of 2-year-old Eden Carlson – after she pushed her way through the baby gate and a heavy door, then jumped into the family pool in Arkansas in February 2017
After two hours of CPR and 17 EpiPen shots, her heart started beating again, but doctors warned she would be confined to a vegetative state for the rest of her life.
Now, in what is thought to be a world first, Eden is running, talking, and laughing with as much energy as before – after undergoing 40 rounds of oxygen therapy.
The results were so stark and Eden’s MRI scans so clearly improved that her case has been published in a medical journal, Medical Gas Research.
The therapy is not FDA-approved and is not covered by insurance.
Bethany, 34, said: ‘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 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.
Their hopes were answered when they were able to get ahold of Dr. Paul Harch – a world-renowned expert on hyperbaric oxygen therapy in cases of children drowning
Bethany is best known for a shark attack at age 13 that nearly derailed her career
‘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.’
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.
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.
