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One former Marine from Florida has tackled depression and disability but has yet to find an obstacle she can't overcome.
Angela Madsen, 52, who became a paraplegic after she was the victim of a botched back surgery while in the Marine Corps, will compete in two Paralympics events during this year's games in London, the Long Beach Post reports.
While Madsen's disability resulted in extreme hardship, her refusal to give up has landed her spots on the U.S. Paralympic shot-put and javelin teams, according to the Post. She holds the world record in the shotput and the American record in the javelin.
"I don't have any regrets about anything. If I could go back and change anything I wouldn't," Madsen told NBC News. "I'm very, very satisfied with the life that I have now."
And the inspiring athlete has every right to be.
Madsen lost her job, spouse, and even home as a result of her disability.
"I ended up homeless, kept my things in a locker at Disneyland," she recalls. "Happiest place on Earth, right?"
But thanks to her incredible ambition, Madsen did not simply persevere throughout such hardship -- rather, she grew.
"I started taking responsibility," she said to NBC. "[I] started making the changes and decisions to move positively forward in my life."
She boasts six Guinness World Records for rowing oceans, including making history as the first woman both to row across the Indian Ocean, and to circumnavigate Great Britain in a crew of four. The athlete, additionally, holds the world record in shot-put and the U.S. record in javelin, according to the Long Beach Post.
But despite such success, she explains that simply participating in the Paralympics will be thrilling enough.
"It's just a great experience to be in the Paralympics with all the other athletes, from all the other countries…just to get [t]here you have to have sacrificed."
Though few others have sacrificed as much as Madsen, her inspiring ability to maintain a positive attitude throughout such adversity has led to her success.
She explains, "Self doubt motivates me because as soon as I doubt myself, then I have to challenge myself to see if I can," she told NBC. "My whole definition of disability is somebody who doesn't believe they can, and doesn't try."
RELATED: Click through the slideshow below to read the stories of five inspiring Paralympians who were injured in combat.
SLIDESHOW:
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