Melissa Stockwell To Take On Ironman Arizona

The paratriathlon world champion will next take on Ironman Arizona in November.

In April 2004, Army 1st Lt. Melissa Stockwell lost her left leg to a roadside bomb, becoming the first female American soldier to lose a limb in the Iraq war. A year and a day later, she was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, a shiny new prosthetic leg and a new outlook on life.

“I’ve done more in my life with one leg than I ever would’ve done with two,” she said. “Life is short. You might as well do the things you wanna do. Don’t wait for tomorrow to do them. You should do them now.”

Stockwell isn’t just talking the talk — she’s been walking the walk ever since she was granted medical retirement from the Army in 2005.

In the past eight years she’s represented the United States in the Beijing Paralympics, won three paratriathlon world championships, hung out with big names like President George W. Bush and First Lady Michelle Obama, become a certified prosthetist and co-founded the Dare2Tri Paratriathlon club for physically disabled youth and adults.

Next up? Her first Ironman, in November of this year.

Read more: Espn.go.com