1137 - The Power of Choice

Overview/Abstract: After being deployed to Iraq in 2004, she became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat, when her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. She was honored with a purple heart and a bronze star and made a promise not to let losing a leg slow her down.

Four years later she became the first Iraq war Veteran to qualify for the Paralympic games, competing in swimming at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics where she was selected to be the flag bearer for Team USA. She then turned to the sport of triathlon and went on to compete in the 2016 Paralympic games where she became a bronze medalist and again in Tokyo 2021 and competed on the iconic racecourse in Paris in her 4th Paralympics with her kids there to cheer her on.

Sharing her story‘The Power of Choice’, Melissa talks about overcoming obstacles, perseverance and how we all have the ability to choose our own path in life.

Melissa fully believes that anyone can do anything that they put their mind to and hopes her audience walks away with a greater appreciation of life and an ‘I can do anything’ attitude.