With the Paralympics one week away, bronze-winning Minnesotan prepares to swim, bike and run in France

Minnesota Now

The Paralympic Summer Games kicks off in Paris a week from Wednesday. Among the Minnesotans competing there is Melissa Stockwell, who grew up in Eden Prairie. At 22-years-old she was commissioned into the U.S. Army and in 2004, she was deployed in Iraq, where she got a title nobody wants. She became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat and was honored with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. That didn’t stop Stockwell from staying active and living her life. Just four years later she became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic games, competing in swimming at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Stockwell joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer from France as she prepares to compete in her fourth Paralympic games in the sport of triathlon.