Melissa Stockwell: ESPYS Nominee

I wrote earlier this week that one of the major reasons I participated in last year's Pleasant Prairie Duathlon then again this year was because of the opportunity to be on the same team as Melissa Stockwell. Melissa defended this country as a soldier in Iraq. three weeks after arriving, the vehicle in which she was riding while on patrol was hit by a roadside bomb. The explosion resulted in Melissa losing her left leg. After, surgery and medical rehabilitation, she was able to stand proudly as an above the knee amputee. The long road back from that moment eventually lead Melissa to dive into the swimming pool. As the soldier that she is, she began to compete and perform at a very high level of success. Before long, Melissa was introduced to triathlons. Of course, she took to it instantly dominating her way to the Physically Challenged National Championship. As only Melissa could, she won! This lead to representing the United States at the World Championship. Few sights are better than Melissa carrying the American flag high above her and fans yelled out "USA. USA." She stormed her way to the victory. Once was so nice, she had to do it twice. As the two time defending national and world champion, Melissa dares to be great. She dares to try and achieve. Melissa is one of the founders of Dare2Tri Chicago Paratriathlon Club where the motto is One Inspires Many. Melissa Stockwell is one who has inspired many over the last decade. I hope you will show her your appreciation as I have by logging on to the following site and voting for her to win an ESPYS Award. She is nominated as Female Athlete With A Disability Of The Year. You can vote once a day over various platforms until when the winners will be announced on July 11 on ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/espys/voting?vote=8081383&lang=en