Ali Truwit’s Memorable 26th Birthday Raised Nearly $300,000 For Her Foundation

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by Karen Price, Red Line Editorial

The best birthday gift Ali Truwit received this year wasn’t actually for her.


It was for an 8-year-old girl named Belle, who lost her leg to cancer. 


Thanks to Truwit’s Stronger Than You Think Foundation and the money raised at its second annual Swim-A-Thon, held this year on Truwit’s birthday (and the three-year anniversary of her own leg amputation), the little girl will be getting her first running blade.


“She’s so positive and so determined, and her next goal is to be able to run,” Truwit said of Belle, noting that running blades cost tens of thousands of dollars. “She’s so excited. She loves sparkles on her prosthetics, so she’s planning a pink, sparkly running blade, and she’s going to just take off.”


To say that Truwit has turned a horrific event into something that’s making a positive impact on the lives of others doesn’t quite begin to describe it. In May 2023, Truwit was celebrating her graduation from Yale with a trip to Turks and Caicos. While snorkeling with her friend and former Yale swimming teammate, Truwit was bit by a shark. Her leg was amputated on May 31, 2023 — her 23rd birthday. Just over one year later, Truwit competed at the Paralympic Games in Paris, winning silver in both the 400-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke S10, and launched Stronger Than You Think with the goal of supporting water safety education, the Paralympic Movement and other women and girls with limb loss. 


In the short time since its inception, the foundation has raised $1 million, funded 23 women and girls to receive prosthetics plus seven water safety programs, and provided more than 13,000 hours of swim lessons.


For this year’s Swim-a-Thon, held at Chelsea Piers Connecticut in Stamford, an anonymous donor offered a $100,000 match challenge. At the same time, prosthetics company A Step Ahead Prosthetics said that if the foundation could meet the $100,000 goal, it would donate Belle’s running blade. The event featured guest appearances by Olympic swimmer Kate Douglass, Paralympian Gia Pergolini and NCAA lacrosse star Chloe Humphrey, in addition to brand support and giveaways, and Truwit reached her fundraising goal by raising nearly $300,000.

“It’s honestly the most special thing,” Truwit said. “I talk a lot about how my support helped me through my trauma, but to see the support for Stronger Than You Think and know this community came together to pull all our recipients through their hardship and trauma is powerful and special. I’m so grateful to all the people who came out and supported and donated and swam laps. It was on my birthday, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.”


Truwit took last year off from swimming to focus on reclaiming another of her life loves, running. Just 10 days before the shark attack, Truwit completed a marathon alongside her mother, and in the days and weeks following the amputation she wondered if she’d ever run again. She answered that question — and then some — by getting a running blade, learning to run on it and ultimately completing the New York City Marathon in the fall of 2025. She crossed the finish line in 4:14.34, hand-in-hand with some of the most special people in her life, and raised $250,000 for Stronger Than You Think along the way. 


Now, she’s back in the pool training toward the goal of the Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028. Truwit returned to competition in the Para Swimming World Series meets in Spain and France this spring.

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“Swimming is one of those sports where I feel like no matter how in shape I am out of the water, if I’m not in the water I’m not in shape in the pool,” she said. “Definitely at the start (of training) it was a lot of work and a lot of building up to where I felt like I had a good aerobic base, like I could sprint again and like my technique was where I wanted. I’m still working on it, but that part definitely takes some time when you first come back.”


Shaking off the rust was no problem. Truwit made cuts for the national team in both the 400-meter freestyle and 100-meter backstroke at the two events.


Next up will be the Para Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in August in California. Truwit said she’s been working on specific goals, such as building up her leg strength, with her coach and is looking forward to seeing improvements with her continued training over the next few months. The meet will also officially launch the Stronger Than You Think performance incentive fund. The first-of-its-kind grant, currently $500,000, will give financial rewards to U.S. Para swimmers who medal and/or break a world record at select major international competitions between now and 2028.


“As we work as a whole in the Paralympic Movement toward pay equity, this is step one,” Truwit said. “I’m really excited about the start, but the goal is to grow the prize pool in order to really impact the stats that over 50 percent of U.S. Paralympians make less than $50,000 per year and are working outside jobs to afford being a professional athlete. We need that prize pool to be in the millions, and I want to grow it across other sports as well. I’m hoping that Pan Pacs draws a lot of attention to it, and I hope it gets our donors and other donors excited to continue the fund and continue working toward growing it.”

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.