"The water is still a place for me": Ali Truwit's Paralympics journey post-shark attack

Former Division I swimmer Ali Truwit is set to make her Paralympic debut in Paris. A little more than a year ago, she never would have imagined she'd be there.

While celebrating her college graduation from Yale University with friends in Turks and Caicos last May, Truwit was attacked by a shark, leading to a forced amputation of her foot and part of her lower leg. 

"I was conscious for the whole attack," Truwit said in an interview with PEOPLE. "My parents were in the United States at the time. I called my mom — well, the nurse called her — and I got on the phone and said, 'Mom, I . . . ,' and I couldn't even get the words out. I knew if I said the words, I would just . . . I was trying really hard to stay conscious, so I handed the phone to my friend Sophie who had to tell my mom."

"I went on the plane to Turks and Caicos with a five-year plan of my life and knew what my life was going to look like, and left on a medical evacuation plane not sure if I was going to live," the 24-year-old added.

And yet, despite the intensity of Truwit's ordeal, she got back into the pool a mere three months after undergoing a Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR) surgery with a new plan: The 2024 Paralympics. 

“I had lost enough, and anything that was on the table for me to regain, I was going to fight to regain it,” Truwit, who is part of the S10 Paralympics classification system, said, per the Olympics official website. “I didn’t want to lose a limb and my love of the water, too.” A key part of retaining that love included consistent therapy, both physically and emotionally. “The more I worked at it, the flashbacks reduced and the pain lessened,” Truwit shared of her therapy journey. 

"I felt like I had lost a lot in the shark attack that I wasn't going to get back. Like, my foot is not coming back. So the things that I could fight to get back, I decided I was going to do that," Truwit told PEOPLE. 

In the wake of the attack, Truwit decided to launch the organization Stronger Than You Think to provide support and empowerment for people without limbs and for their loved ones. "I started Stronger Than You Think to help people in need of financial assistance with their prosthetics as well as to help people become water safe," reads a portion of Truwit's statement on the foundation's website.

Now, Truwit will compete in the 100-meter freestyle event on Sunday, Sept. 1. A multitude of family and friends will be present to cheer her on, she said, noting, "The list goes on and on." 

"To think about the fact that a year and a week ago, I was taking my first steps in a prosthetic leg. It was so painful and scary and hard. I had to relearn how to walk at 23 years old," Truwit said. 

"Now to think that a year later I'm going to be walking down the Champs-Élysées at the opening ceremonies as a Paralympian is just a crazy kind of moment. I think I'm actually typically someone who's pretty forward-looking and constantly setting new goals. This go around, I definitely have goals for Paris, but also just really making sure I take a moment to feel really proud of how far I've come in a year. So I'm feeling proud.

“For anyone going through traumatic experiences or unexpected life events, we’re all still powerful, even as we are changed,” Truwit told NBC. “The water is still the place for me and it’s still a place that shows me my power and my strength.”