Originally appeared on E! Online
Bethany Hamilton and her family are mourning the loss of her nephew.
Andrew Hamilton, the son of the surf icon’s older brother Timothy Hamilton and wife Kyah Hamilton, has died, one week he was found unconscious in a partially filled bathtub. He was 3 years old.
“Andrew Samuel Hamilton, born December 26th 2020, entered his heavenly rest on Friday, October 17, 2024,” read a message posted on Timothy Hamilton’s Instagram Oct. 19, “succumbing to injuries sustained a week prior in a drowning accident, after all of the best life-saving interventions had been exhausted.”
Andrew Hamilton is the second-youngest of six siblings. “Andrew’s passing is mourned by me, his father, his mother Kyah, and all of our children, Thomas, Joshua, Matthew, Noelle, and John,” Timothy Hamilton wrote, “as well as by his grandparents, his aunts, uncles, and cousins, and by his family in Christ, the congregation of Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church, together with her pastor William Pierce.”
READ Surfer Bethany Hamilton Shares Update After 3-Year-Old Nephew’s Drowning Incident
The 38-year-old said the church leader’s “steadfast prayers at Andrew’s bedside and preaching of God’s Words to our broken hearts has sustained our souls this past week.”
Timothy Hamilton added, “It hurts terribly and we miss Andrew more than words can express. But we do not mourn as those who have no hope. 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.”
Bethany Hamilton, 34, also shared her own tribute.
“The Lord has receive my sweet nephew Andrew into his beautiful care,” the athlete wrote on her Instagram. “While my family and I will miss him dearly, we trust that his joy is full with Jesus.”
She continued, “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 Gods will for our life is greater than our own. Thank you all for the love, prayers and support is this trying time. Be blessed.”
Bethany Hamilton, a mother of four who documented her experience surviving a 2003 shark attack that cost her her left arm in a memoir and the 2011 film “Soul Surfer,” had last week issued a public plea to reach a medical expert on drowning injuries to try and help Andrew after he was hospitalized in Oahu, Hawaii.
A fundraising page set up for the family had noted that on Oct 11, “Andrew came down with a fever and threw up. He was in the bathtub soaking in 6 inches of water and epsom salt; just 15 feet from the kitchen and living room.”
The message continued, “He was found unconscious — which is baffling as he’s the strongest child of his 5 siblings at that age and an amazing swimmer, even in the open ocean. Chest compression began, he had a slight heartbeat. He spent a few hours at Wilcox hospital before medical evacuation to Oahu.”
The family later updated the page to note that Andrew Hamilton had suffered kidney damage, had swelling in his brain and was also on a ventilator.
Following his death, Bethany and Timothy Hamilton’s eldest brother Noah Hamilton, 42, also shared a tribute to the child, in which he shared that he had gone surfing with him two days before his drowning accident.
“The only solo time I ever got to play with him,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’ve played with his 4 older siblings. We had so much fun. On our last wave I threw him off the board and he swam to shore through the waves and current sucking him back to sea. I will cherish this memory.”
Noah Hamilton continued, “He was a strong hammer of a kid. We will never know how he got into trouble in a bath with 6in of water. But what we do know is that he’s in heaven singing with the Angels, resting in his heavenly father’s arms of love. I love you Andrew.”
