Melissa Stockwell

“I’ve done more in my life with one leg than I would have ever done with two.”

Melissa Stockwell was the first female American soldier in history to lose a limb in active combat. In 2008, she set out to become the first wounded Iraq War Veteran to make the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team.  On April 13, 2004, an IED explosion took her left leg, changing her life forever.  But Melissa never dwelled on her injury, and was determined to quickly get out of her hospital bed and on with her life. Fifty-two days after losing her leg, Melissa took her first steps.  Two months later she snow skied for the first time. Less than a year after losing her leg, she completed the New York City Marathon.  And then, despite having never swum competitively in her life, Melissa set her sights on making it to the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.