Bethany Hamilton’s 3-Year-Old Nephew Dies After Drowning Accident

Famous surfer Bethany Hamilton’s 3-year-old nephew, Andrew, died on Friday after succumbing to his injuries from a drowning accident.

In an Instagram post shared over the weekend, the 34-year-old professional athlete, who lost her arm in a shark attack while surfing at the age of 13, opened up about the tragic loss of her “sweet” nephew.

“The Lord has received my sweet nephew Andrew into his beautiful care,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram Saturday. “While my family and I will miss him dearly, we trust that his joy is full with Jesus.”

She added, “Here is a prayer of faith that was prayed by my brother, and our whole family, this last week. This prayer paints so incredibly what it is to have faith. Faith is to trust that God’s will for our life is greater than our own. Thank you all for the love, prayers and support in this trying time. Be blessed.”

Hamilton had previously shared in a separate Instagram post that her nephew was transported to a hospital in Oahu, Hawaii, after drowning on Oct. 11, noting that he still had a “heartbeat” and “fight [left] in him” at the time.

The young boy’s father, Timothy Hamilton, also posted a touching obituary for his son on his Instagram account as well, and said that “best life-saving interventions had been exhausted.”

“It hurts terribly and we miss Andrew more than words can express. But we do not mourn as those who have no hope,” the father wrote. “We rejoice in the certain hope of the glory of God, into whose name Andrew was baptized, whose precious blood washed Andrew clean and made him a child and heir of heaven.”