Just last year, Ali Truwit lost her leg in a shark attack. Now she's competing at the Paralympics.

For Ali Truwit, snorkelling in the Turks and Caicos islands should have been the perfect end-of-school celebration.

No stranger to the water, the then-22-year-old had represented Yale University in swimming meets, even winning the 1500m freestyle in the 2018 Speedo Sectionals.

But on the second day of her holiday, as the university graduate explored the island with her former teammate Sophie Pilkinton, Ali was attacked by a shark.

"We fought back but the shark bit off my foot and part of my leg during the attack," she said on The Kelly Clarkson Show, recalling the moment she and Sophie managed to swim to a nearby boat.

Ali graduated from Yale University. Image: Instagram/@alitruwit

"Swimming was the first thing that saved my life and the second was my teammate Sophie," Ali continued. "She applied a tourniquet on my leg and stopped the bleeding, and I am forever indebted to her."

Rushed to hospital in Miami, Ali was treated by a team of trauma doctors.

"I underwent surgeries to fight infection," Ali explained. "I had blood transfusions and it ended with an amputation on my 23rd birthday."

Her life was spared, but her career was in jeopardy. Just 10 days before the attack, the self-described "lifelong athlete" had run a marathon with her mother — who is also a talented swimmer. Ali asked herself if she would ever run or swim again.

After being attacked by a shark, Ali was treated by a team of trauma doctors. Image: Instagram/@alitruwit

Then, as part of her rehabilitation, she dove back into the pool. With each stroke, the 22-year-old's tormenting question of "why her" manifested into "why not throw everything into something."

"I don't let fear rule my life," Ali enthused, as per CBS. "I had lost enough and anything that was on the table for me to regain, I was going to fight to regain it. I didn't want to lose a limb and my love of the water, too."

That "something" Ali threw herself into became the Paralympics. If the 2028 games was an optimistic goal for a recent shark attack survivor, the 2024 games were surely impossible. Right?

"But I'm not someone who waits," Ali said. What followed was prosthetic training, strength exercises, trauma therapy, and narrative therapy. Suddenly, the time-frame became less suffocating. 

Ali's former coach Jamie Barone even came out of retirement to assist with her recovery.

Now, she is competing at the 2024 Paralympics. Image: Instagram/@alitruwit

"Without hesitation, she's the hardest worker I’ve ever met," Jamie told Today. 

"If at any point in time she had texted me or called me and said, 'You know what, I'm just going to curl up in a ball today, and I'm going to cry.' Everyone in the world would be like, 'That checks out. You take the day, you do whatever,'" he explained. "Not once. She has never once missed a day of practice."

It paid off. By the end of 2023, Ali had won medals at the US Paralympics Swimming National Championships. Now, just 15 months after the day of the attack, the 24-year-old is preparing to represent the US in the Paralympics. Yes, the ones this year.

"I love comeback stories," Ali said, as per the official Olympics website. "I've definitely relied on other people's comeback stories to help me hold on to what feels like a bold and unrealistic hope — of fighting off a shark and surviving and losing a limb and making the Paralympics all in a year."