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USA Today
NEW YORK — When Ali Truwit crossed the finish line of the Copenhagen Marathon in 2023, she had a clear plan for the next few years. She was about to graduate from Yale University, where she was part of the Division I swim team, had a consulting job set up at McKinsey & Company, and was set to travel to Turks and Caicos on a celebratory trip.
Ten days later on that vacation, the unthinkable happened.
She was snorkeling when a shark attacked her and bit off her left foot and part of her leg. On her 23rd birthday, she underwent surgery to amputate her leg below the knee. Running at all, let alone training for another marathon, felt like a far-away fantasy.
On that boat, one of the first responders, Matthew Bevilacqua, helped keep Truwit conscious. In a social media post, Truwit recounted that she joked, “At least I got my marathon in before this.” Without missing a beat, he responded: “You’ll run another one.”
He was right. Two-and-a-half years after that attack, the 25-year-old is lacing up her shoes for another marathon – this time, to run the TCS New York City Marathon on Nov. 2.
From shark attack to Paralympics
Truwit and her friend Sophie Pilkinton, who was also on Yale’s swim team, were snorkeling together at the time of the shark attack. Truwit and Pilkinton swam approximately 75 yards back to their boat, where Pilkinton helped save Truwit’s life by applying a tourniquet to her leg.
She was then airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where she had two surgeries and worked with a team of trauma doctors. When she left the hospital, she asked her parents to put all her shorts and skirts away. She didn’t want anyone to see her prosthetic leg.
“I had to learn how to love this new body without my left lower leg, and that was really hard,” Truwit says.
As a lifelong athlete, Truwit knew she wanted to get back into the water, but struggled with triggers and flashbacks of her attack. She started with small steps, swimming in the pool in her backyard, and a little over three months later, at her childhood pool in Chelsea Piers.
“At the start, it really was learning how to give myself grace and grieve and understand that that’s part of it, to recognize that I was feeling sad or angry or whatever it was, and letting myself feel those emotions,” Truwit says.
She started training seriously in September. By December 2023, she had competed in the U.S. Paralympic Swimming National Championships and decided on trying for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
Sixteen months out from the attack, she competed in the Paralympic Games, where she set two American records and earned silver medals.
“It really highlighted the power of our minds in unlocking our capabilities and just how strong the mind is in helping us achieve what we can do,” Truwit says.
Learning to run again
Last July, Truwit got a running blade prosthetic, which uses a curved shape and carbon fiber to allow runners to move faster than with traditional prosthetics.
“The idea kind of unfolded again, of, ‘Hey, what if I could pull off running a marathon a year after getting the blade?’” Truwit says.
Truwit has shared the ups and downs of her training journey on social media. She started training on a treadmill, and had to adapt to running on rough surfaces, which is challenging without the stability of the ankle.
Training as an amputee means accounting for factors like limb management, which in some cases meant taking breaks from training to avoid infection. During long runs, she has to remove her prosthetic to dry off the sweat.
During her own journey, she was shocked by the price of prosthetics and how little insurance often covers it. In December 2024, Truwit founded Stronger Than You Think, a nonprofit focused on promoting water safety, access to prosthetics and the Para movement. She’s since helped donate 11 prosthetic legs to women and girls.
Truwit ran that Copenhagen Marathon on Mother’s Day in 2023 with her mom alongside her. In this race, she’s running alongside 11 family members and friends, including Pilkinton. She has a goal to fundraise $100,000 for Stronger Than You Think.
Truwit plans to make a run for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. For now, she’s focused on enjoying Sunday’s race.
“It was very top of mind coming out of the attack, would I ever run again?” Truwit says. “It’s been really healing to have the goal and work towards it.”
Rachel Hale’s role covering Youth Mental Health at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale on X.