There was a time when Hannah Smith did not want the world to see her.
After losing both legs in a devastating boating accident during a trip to the Bahamas, the 23-year-old college graduate faced a reality she never imagined.
“The whole world could now see me, my scars and a nub,” she recalled in a social media post.
For a young woman who had been celebrating one of the happiest moments of her life, the journey that followed would test every part of her spirit.
Smith had traveled with her childhood friend to celebrate graduating from Miles College when tragedy struck. According to a lawsuit filed against Carnival and an excursion operator–Pearl Island Investment Management Group, she was pulled beneath the back of a catamaran ferry and repeatedly struck by its propeller.
The injuries were catastrophic and she lost 60 percent of her blood and both of her legs.

In an instant, the future she had imagined for herself was gone, it seemed.
The months that followed were filled with pain, uncertainty and some of the darkest moments of her life.
“I had a lot of dark moments alone,” she said.
Though surrounded by family and friends who loved her, Smith admitted she often felt disconnected from the world around her.
“I still felt like I didn’t fit anymore.”
But even in those moments, she refused to surrender. “I was determined to be the best version of myself during recovery,” she said.

That determination became her lifeline. She prayed, even when she struggled with anger.
“I prayed despite my anger towards God.” And slowly, she began rebuilding her life.
Today, Smith has embraced new passions, including wheelchair basketball and painting. She has also begun her journey with prosthetic legs, a process she once believed would restore what she had lost.
Instead, she discovered something deeper.
“God has given me so much grace and is continuously renewing my strength whenever I feel depleted in my new journey of life,” she said.

“If God allows something to be taken away you never thought you could lose, He can also give you blessings you never thought you could have.”
One year after the accident, Smith says she never imagined she would come this far.
She continues to adapt, heal and inspire thousands through social media who follow her journey.
Perhaps no words capture her journey better than the message she chose to have inscribed on her thigh: “Walk by faith and not my foot.”
It is a testimony that while tragedy may have changed the course of her life, it did not defeat her spirit.








