Melissa Stockwell knew from a young age she wanted to serve her country. After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2002, the Michigan native was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.
“It was April 13th of 2004. We’d been in Iraq for just three weeks, and it was a routine convoy that, that specific day, my vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb which resulted ultimately in the loss of my left leg above the knee,” said Stockwell.
She retired from the Army in 2004 and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart—two of the nation’s highest honors given to servicemen and women. Through her recovery, Stockwell was presented with another way to serve her country.
As Melissa told Alexa Liacko, “I did a lot of my rehab at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and a few months after I started there, there was this presentation put on at the hospital about the Paralympics.”
In 2011, Stockwell opened Dare2Tri with her husband, a non-profit helping people with physical disabilities and visual impairments train, compete and build confidence. One of the members of her foundation will join her at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
