Maui shark attack victim Kenji Nonaka says he grateful to be alive and to have the goodwill of people who have donated to his recovery. Near him is his wife, Tomoko. Renee Wilcox/Photo courtesy

Lying in his hospital bed, Kenji Nonaka says he has been overwhelmed by the goodwill to help him recover from a shark attack that took his left leg below his knee.

“I don’t know how to say it but, ‘Thank you so much, everybody,” said Nonaka, who was born in Japan but has lived on Maui for 34 years.

If things go as he hopes, he’ll be back in the water surfing two months from now. But he said he’s just happy to be alive and enjoys going to the beach and getting wet in the ocean.

“I feel so good. I want to go surfing again,” he said. “I love surfing. I love the ocean.”

As of Thursday morning, friends of Nonaka have reached close to 90% of a $100,000 fundraising goal for his recovery with an account at GoFundMe.com.

“His attitude and outlook is extremely positive, just as always,” said his friend, Renee Wilcox, who has been helping raise money for his recovery.

Wilcox said donations have been pouring in from various people including many who don’t know Nonaka and those who knew him as a surfer decades ago.

“‘It’s really touching,” she said.

Wilcox said she and other friends surf with him every morning, and he always has a big smile. “He makes me laugh all the time in the water.”

Nonaka is also a good surfer as his peers say they’ve seen him ride triple overhead waves.

The shark attack happened at an area known as “Sand Piles” and was reported to police at 7:11 a.m. Friday. Nonaka was alert and conscious after the attack and able to swim back to shore with the assistance of other surfers.

He was still recovering from surgery at Maui Memorial Medical Center on Thursday, where he was taken after the shark attacked him in waters near Waiehu Beach Park.

Officers applied a tourniquet to his leg before paramedics and fire personnel arrived on scene, police said.

Nonaka is among the fortunate ones who survived a shark attack. Of the four people attacked on Maui in 2022 and 2023, two did not survive. The body of one of the victims was never recovered, and another died after the shark attack.

Nonaka does home improvement work for a living, and his wife, Tomoko, who’s also from Japan, works cleaning condominiums.

Nonaka said he picked Maui as his home after living on O’ahu in 1984.

“My friend said, ‘Maui is so good; it’s like old O’ahu — so beautiful,'” he said. “People are so kind here.”

As a result of his experience, Nonaka said he plans to return the goodwill he’s received by helping others who face similar difficulties.

“I want to give back to the community,” he said

Despite the shark attack, he has no plans to move elsewhere.

“I want to live here,” Nonaka said. “I want to stay here. I want to die here.”

Those who wish to support the Kenji’s recovery can go to bit.ly/4fx4N6f.