Ali Truwit Believes You’re Stronger Than You Think, And Now She Has A Foundation To Back That Up

Ali Truwit won a pair of silver medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris last year, cheered on by 50 family members and friends who supported her journey.

That’s something she’ll never forget.

But just as unforgettable was a moment before she put on the cap and goggles and dove into the pool, when she walked along the Champs-Elysees in the Opening Ceremony.

“A year prior, I had been learning how to take my first steps in a prosthetic leg, riddled with so much fear and not knowing what my future was going to be,” said the 25-year-old from Darien, Connecticut. “To be walking down the Champs-Elysees a year later as a Paralympian was just such a real moment for me, as I took those steps and reflected on that. It reminded me of how far I’d come.” 

In the two years since losing part of her left leg in a shark attack while snorkeling in the waters off Turks and Caicos, Truwit has discovered strength she never imagined. She also knows she’s not the only one with a deep well of courage and the power to turn trauma into hope, inspiring the name of her foundation, Stronger Than You Think.

The foundation focuses on three pillars that helped save and then rebuild her life: swimming, prosthetics and the Paralympics.

It was her ability to swim that literally saved her life, as she and her best friend and former Yale teammate had to make it 75 yards back to the boat after Truwit was bitten. Part of the funds raised through Stronger Than You Think go to water safety programs, and to date they’ve supported four water safety programs that have provided hundreds of hours of swim lessons in underserved areas.

Prosthetics are another focus. As a new amputee, Truwit was shocked at how much the devices cost and how little insurance often covers, so a portion of the funds raised goes toward helping provide prosthetics for women and girls. Stronger Than You Think has already helped a 25-year-old woman get two prosthetic legs, provided two young girls with high-heel-compatible prosthetic feet for special occasions and given a 7-year-old girl a high-activity prosthetic so she can run and play with her friends.

“And my intent is not just to give the prosthetic and be done, but to create community and support and authentic representation about how hard this is and also how we are all stronger than we think and we can do it and we are doing it,” Truwit said.

The final piece for Truwit is once again swimming, this time in the Paralympic Movement.

“I found that even just the goal of the Paralympics and joining that movement was truly the most healing decision I could've made for my recovery,” she said. “It gave me so much strength and hope and let me celebrate all that I still had as opposed to wallowing in what I didn't, and helped me focus on all that I could still do.”

Part of Truwit’s mission is to raise awareness for Para swimming, which she does through her speaking engagements (she also donates her fees back to the foundation) as well as social media and her other public-facing work to normalize seeing women and athletes in prosthetics. Recently, Truwit became only the second Paralympian and third amputee to be featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition. She walked the SI Swimsuit runway in May on the two-year anniversary of her amputation surgery.

One thing Truwit said people are shocked to learn about the Paralympics — and something even she didn’t know until becoming a part of the team herself — is just how fast the Team USA swimmers are.

“When I learned that to make the team I was basically going to have to swim pretty much the times that I had swum to get recruited to swim Division I at Yale with two legs, but this time with one, it was just so crazy, and it speaks to the talent of all these Paralympians,” she said. “And it’s something we’re going to continue to spread awareness about, and what better time to do that than heading into Los Angeles.”

Speaking of Los Angeles and the 2028 Paralympics, Truwit does plan to resume her competitive swimming career in the near future. She’s just been taking a bit of a break since Paris, focusing on getting her foundation going strong and renewing some other passions, including learning to run again on a new blade she got after the Games. She also recently hosted her first swim-a-thon to benefit the foundation, and had nearly 200 swimmers, including six Olympians as well as Paralympic teammates Gia Pergolini, who flew from Florida, and Mallory Weggemann, who joined remotely. They raised over $100,000 to support Stronger Than You Think and continue to spread Truwit’s message of hope.

“I think that it’s really healing for me to be able to take this bad thing that happened to me that I can’t really make sense of and make meaning of it by using it for good to help other people,” she said. “What happened to me doesn’t make sense, but what always makes sense is helping other people. Even just the impact that we’ve had already is really exciting to me, and I’m excited to continue carrying that momentum forward.” 

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.