Excerpt from: Chicago Tribune (click for full article)
Army veteran Melissa Stockwell has one strong, healthy leg. The other is a scarred, 6-inch stump that she has proudly nicknamed "Little Leg."
The Bucktown woman throws birthday parties for this shortened limb, always dresses it in her favorite colors — red, white and blue — and has trouble imagining going through life any other way. "I've done more with one leg than I ever could have with two," she often says.
The first female soldier to lose a limb in Iraq, Stockwell, 32, has managed to turn a traumatic above-the-knee amputation into an uplifting experience, one that motivates people of all abilities. Since the injury she has shaken hands with presidents, won three consecutive paratriathlon world championships, run marathons, skied down mountains and raced 267 miles across Alaska in the longest wheelchair and handcycle race in the world.
Earlier this month she declared on her blog, "I'm going to be an Ironman," and signed up for Ironman Arizona, a punishing 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike ride, followed by a 26.2-mile run.
But Stockwell's physical feats only partly explain why a company like Trek now touts her as one of its "great athletes," calling her an inspirational role model.
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