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3-time Paralympian Angela Madsen dies while rowing from L.A. to Honolulu
ktla ^ | 03/27/2020

Posted on 06/27/2020 8:41:56 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Madsen, 60, was declared dead at 11 p.m. PST on Monday, June 22, when the US Coast Guard discovered her body several hours after she last made contact with anybody, according to a letter posted to RowOfLife.org, a website set up to document the journey, and signed by Madsen’s wife, Debra Madsen, and filmmaker Soraya Simi.

A paraplegic, Angela Madsen was a six-time Guinness World Record holder who was in the midst of attempting her next feat: to become the first paraplegic and oldest woman to row from California to Hawaii alone. Madsen carried all of her own food and used a desalinator to make fresh water. She set a goal of rowing 12 out of every 24 hours for three-four months to complete her journey, the filmmakers wrote on the film’s website.

She departed from Los Angeles and rowed approximately 1,114 nautical miles, which was 1,275 nautical miles from her destination in Honolulu. Madsen had been alone at sea for 60 days.

On Sunday, June 21, Madsen checked in via satellite and said that she was going into the water to fix her bow anchor. After not hearing from Madsen for several hours, a search and rescue operation was initiated. An aircraft was dispatched and a cargo vessel was re-routed to find her. The Coast Guard discovered her body, the letter said.

Madsen was an LGBTQ activist, having served as the grand marshal of the Long Beach Pride Parade in 2015.

(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: ancientmariner; angelamadsen; deathwish; honolulu; lesbian; paralympian; quiltbag; rugmuncher; sodomette
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"In 1980, at her first Marine Corps basketball training session, she fell on the court and another player stepped on her back, rupturing two discs in her spine.[3] This in turn led Madsen to undergo surgery to her back, but a string of errors resulted in her suffering a L1 incomplete spinal cord injury and paraplegia.[4]

"The US military refused to pay for Madsen's medical bills following the accident, and, in the dispute that followed, Madsen lost her home and her marriage fell apart. She fell into depression and became homeless, living out of a storage locker in Disneyland."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Madsen#Spinal_injury_and_surgery

1 posted on 06/27/2020 8:41:56 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

That is an absolutely tragic story. RIP.


2 posted on 06/27/2020 8:45:59 PM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!)
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To: BenLurkin

How does one live out of a storage locker IN Disneyland?!


3 posted on 06/27/2020 8:47:30 PM PDT by Skywise
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To: BenLurkin

What a life story. And she made it almost half way to Hawaii. RIP


4 posted on 06/27/2020 8:50:15 PM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.)
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To: BenLurkin

Sad. Wonder if she got hung up on something during the bow anchor repair and drowned? I imagine she was tethered to the craft.


5 posted on 06/27/2020 8:51:41 PM PDT by Dagnabitt
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To: BenLurkin

so, didn’t Brewer & Shipley write a song about this called “One Row Over The Line, Sweet Jesus?”


6 posted on 06/27/2020 8:53:35 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Skywise
She obviously had her belonging there. She didn't sleep there.

Kind of like the saying of living out of your suitcase. Same concept.

7 posted on 06/27/2020 8:58:32 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: BenLurkin

Wow, that is a sad story.

I do not understand how our military cannot pay for insurance that would have covered the hospital bills for an accident.


8 posted on 06/27/2020 8:59:05 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: BenLurkin

Too bad she got taken in.


9 posted on 06/27/2020 9:04:13 PM PDT by Revel
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To: BenLurkin

Okay. I’ll have a beer for the occasion, because beer seems to be an effective diuretic.


10 posted on 06/27/2020 9:04:57 PM PDT by familyop ( "Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy".)
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To: BenLurkin

Okay. I’ll have a beer for the occasion, because beer seems to be an effective diuretic.


11 posted on 06/27/2020 9:04:59 PM PDT by familyop ( "Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy".)
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To: BenLurkin

Brought tears to my eyes. She definitely was a warrior.

“I do know that whatever my purpose is in this life, my differently-abled, physically-challenged, broken-down, beaten-up body seems to be the vehicle required for me to achieve it. … I am purpose driven; I may suffer pain and not walk upright in this life, but when I go home, I will not suffer the walk through the gate. I can live with that. If I could go back and change things, I would not. It would be nice not to have to suffer so much pain but, hey, that’s just the way it is. … In the beginning, I was angry. But now, I completely understand,” Madsen wrote in her memoir “Rowing Against the Wind.”


12 posted on 06/27/2020 9:08:05 PM PDT by peggybac (Government is about force. It always has been about force.)
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To: ConservativeMind
I do not understand how our military cannot pay for insurance that would have covered the hospital bills for an accident.

You only got one side of the story from that article.
13 posted on 06/27/2020 9:09:50 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: BenLurkin

Every so often someone comes along and takes upon himself/herself an unbelievable, grueling challenge (e.g., scaling some mountain, walking/rowing/swimming some great distance, etc) and says, “I’m going to do X or die trying.” Unfortunately, the latter outcome occasionally happens.


14 posted on 06/27/2020 9:09:56 PM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: BenLurkin
"The US military refused to pay for Madsen's medical bills following the accident, and, in the dispute that followed, Madsen lost her home and her marriage fell apart. She fell into depression and became homeless, living out of a storage locker in Disneyland."

Something doesn't sound quite right.

15 posted on 06/27/2020 9:11:32 PM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Why do Democrats support terrorism?)
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To: BenLurkin

Her basketball training session...?
Whut the fluck? You must mean BASIC TRAINING SESSION.
Wikipedia really say what you posted Ben?


16 posted on 06/27/2020 9:11:57 PM PDT by Honest Nigerian
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To: Honest Nigerian
No. She was part of the Women's Marine Corp basketball team.
17 posted on 06/27/2020 9:27:14 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Leave it to me to be holdin' the matches when the fire truck shows up & there's nobody else to blame)
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To: familyop

????? ?


18 posted on 06/27/2020 9:30:01 PM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear; Honest Nigerian
No. She was part of the Women's Marine Corp basketball team.

6'1", so that makes sense.

19 posted on 06/27/2020 9:30:23 PM PDT by kiryandil (Chris Wallace: Because someone has to drive the Clown Car)
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To: BenLurkin

Possibly the victim of too many unrealistic hollywood movies.


20 posted on 06/27/2020 9:44:06 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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