US Paralympian Melissa Stockwell is helping triathletes with physical disabilities reach the starting line

Melissa Stockwell, an American Paralympian who earned the Purple Heart and Bronze Star in the U.S. Army, talked to Fox News Digital about Dare2Tri.

American Paralympic bronze medalist triathlete Melissa Stockwell knows firsthand the struggle athletes with physical disabilities have getting into sports, let alone trying to compete in a triathlete.

Stockwell lost her left leg in a roadside bombing as she served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division during the Iraq War. She received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, and later became the first Iraq War veteran to compete in the 2008 Paralympics. She competed in swimming events before later turning her attention to triathlon.

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Melissa Stockwell, the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat after her vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq, and subsequently became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic Games, is a member of the B.A.A.'s 2022 Honorary Women's team, and speaks as part of Boston Marathon Fan Fest on April 17, 2022 in Copley Square Park in Boston. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

As she gears up for the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Stockwell is raising awareness about her charity Dare2Tri. Stockwell was the recipient of P&G’s Athletes for Good grant because of her work through the organization. Stockwell told Fox News Digital in a recent interview she helped co-found the charity with her two friends in 2010 to help disabled athletes get the opportunity to reach the starting line of a triathlon and finish it.

"A lot of the times we say that the finish line is just the beginning, just a self-confidence and self-worth of what they’re able