Stricken Man, 20, Disappears While Swimming

Everything considered, 20-year-old Craig Hand had been doing well. Two years after being diagnosed as having a brain tumor and despite debilitating seizures, he was determined to conquer his illness and planned to enroll in a community college this fall.

“He was in good spirits,” said his mother, Mary Hand, a registered nurse at UC Irvine Medical Center. “He had all these plans, all these things he wanted to do.”

Hand disappeared Thursday in the surf at Huntington Beach, triggering a search that his parents hope will lead to his return home.

About 6 feet tall, 185 pounds and with brown curly hair and brown eyes, Hand was last seen by his girlfriend entering the surf at 11th Street at Huntington Beach. When he failed to return 20 minutes later, his family began a frantic search.

“There wasn’t any rough surf that day,” his mother said. “We fear he may have bumped his head and is out walking around somewhere disoriented. Or he may have drowned. Maybe somebody saw him.”

Mary Hand said that even with medication, her son was subject to seizures about once a week. The brain tumor, she said, left him with some memory loss and speech problems.

Since Hand’s disappearance, the family has canvassed the neighborhood distributing pictures. “We need any information we can,” his mother said. “We have notified the police and they are helping, but so far we have heard nothing.

Lt. Steve Davidson, a marine safety officer with the Huntington Beach recreation department, said lifeguards in the area had been looking for Hand but so far no leads had turned up.