It’s easy to take for granted what we consider to be routine activities such as swimming or walking, especially if you’re a world class athlete with six Olympic Gold medals under your belt. Amy Van Dyken-Rouen never imagined that taking a walk would become such a struggle.
Amy was involved in an accident in June 2014 while riding an ATV. Her ATV went over an embankment and she lost consciousness. The crash resulted in a dislocation of her T11 vertebra. When she awoke the next day in hospital, her doctor recommended that she say goodbye to her husband before they took her in for surgery, just in case she didn’t make it.
She made it out of surgery although the injury in the middle of her back caused paralysis from the waist down. Her doctor didn’t think she would be able to walk again. However, never is word that doesn’t exist for Amy. She’s proved this over and over to all her detractors.
Amy first started swimming when she was 12 years old. Even then, people told her she could never swim competitively because of her asthma. It was difficult for her to swim an entire lap when she first started out. But Amy would prove them all wrong by becoming the first woman from the USA to win four gold medals at a single Olympics when she competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She competed once again in the 2000 Olympics, walking away with two gold medals.
Although she and her husband, Tom Rouen, retired from competitive swimming and football, they established successful careers in real estate and sports thereafter.
Faced with her injuries, Amy had the choice to give up and feel sorry for herself, or rise to the challenge that life had thrown her way. She chose the latter.
While recovering in Arizona, a lot of things kept falling into place. There were many people who marshaled around Amy and her husband to help. Volunteers came to help make their house more comfortable for her by lowering the stove, installing a ramp in the pool and widening her tub. ‘Amy’s Army’ was what they called themselves and what she called the foundation she started.
‘I started the foundation with the help of women in my book club to help others who had suffered injuries similar to mine’ says Amy. Things changed when the foundation received a $40,000 donation from the Fiesta Bowl and Parsons Foundation. Through the foundation, Amy helps raise awareness about spinal cord injuries as well as money to pay for medical equipment for those who can’t afford it.
