Man cheers for a common name and brings joy to strangers at New York City Marathon
Blake Hudson showed up at the New York City Marathon with a placard that read “John” and decided to give a big shoutout to strangers.
USA Today
NEW YORK — When Ari Truwitt 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. There, he was on a Division 1 swim team, had a consulting job at McKinsey & Company, and was scheduled to take a celebratory trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Ten days into that vacation, the unthinkable happened.
While snorkeling, she was attacked by a shark and had her left leg and part of her foot bitten off. On her 23rd birthday, she underwent surgery to have her leg amputated below the knee. Running, let alone training for my next marathon, felt like a distant dream.
On that boat, one of the first responders, Matthew Bevilacqua, helped keep Truewitt conscious. In a social media post, Truwitt recalled joking, “At least I finished the marathon before this.” He answered without hesitation: “Please run again.”
He was right. Two and a half years after the attack, the 25-year-old is lacing up her shoes for another marathon. This time I’m running the TCS New York City Marathon on November 2nd.
From shark attacks to the Paralympics
Truwitt and her friend Sophie Pilkington, who was on the Yale swim team, were snorkeling together at the time of the shark attack. Mr. Twitt and Mr. Pilkington swam about 75 yards back to the boat, where Mr. Pilkington saved Mr. Twitt’s life by applying a tourniquet to his leg.
She was then airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami, where she underwent two surgeries and worked with a team of trauma doctors. When she left the hospital, she asked her parents to put away all her pants and skirts. She didn’t want anyone to see her prosthetic leg.
“I had to learn how to love this new body without my lower left leg, and it was really hard,” Truewitt says.
As a lifelong athlete, Truwitt wanted to get back in the water, but suffered from seizure triggers and flashbacks. She started with small steps, swimming in her backyard pool, and a little over three months later, she was swimming in the pool at Chelsea Piers as a child.
“The first thing was giving myself grace and sadness and understanding that that’s part of it, recognizing that I’m feeling sadness or anger or whatever it is, and learning how to allow myself to feel those emotions,” Truewitt says.
She began training in earnest in September. By December 2023, she had competed in the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Championships and decided to try for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.
Sixteen months after the attack, she competed in the Paralympics, setting two American records and winning a silver medal.
“It really highlighted how strong the power of the mind is in unlocking our abilities and helping us achieve what we’re capable of,” says Truewitt.
learn to run again
Last July, Truewitt received a Running Blade prosthetic leg. It uses a curved shape and carbon fiber, allowing runners to move faster than traditional prosthetic legs.
“The idea came back to me: ‘What if I could finish a marathon a year after I got the blade?'” Twitt says.
Truewitt shared the ups and downs of his training journey on social media. She started training on a treadmill, but had to adapt to running on rough surfaces when her ankles weren’t stable.
Training as an amputee meant considering factors such as limb management, and in some cases training had to be interrupted to avoid infection. When running long distances, I have to take off my prosthetic leg to wipe off the sweat.
During her own journey, she was struck by the cost of prosthetic limbs and how little insurance covers them. In December 2024, Mr. Truwitt founded Stronger Than You Think, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting water safety, access to prosthetic limbs, and para-mobility. Since then, she has helped donate 11 prosthetic legs to women and girls.
Truewitt ran the Copenhagen Marathon with her mother on Mother’s Day in 2023. In this race, she is running with 11 family members and friends, including Pilkington. She has a goal of raising $100,000 for Stronger Than You Think.
Truwitt plans to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. For now, she’s focused on enjoying Sunday’s race.
“My biggest concern was getting out of the attack. Will I ever run again?” Truwitt said. “It was really therapeutic to have a goal and work towards it.”
Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Contact X at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale.
