A person with a great attitude

Amy Van Dyken-Rouen was discharged from Craig Rehab Hospital in Denver yesterday.

Van Dyken-Rouen on Thursday referred to herself as a "proud paraplegic."

She admitted that her life is now filled with new challenges, but she's feeling "empowered."

"I want to try everything, I want to do everything," she said. "Fly, free bird, fly!"

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Tough as they come

Is it any surprise to anyone that Amy Van Dyken-Rouen has an upbeat attitude about her new life as a paraplegic?



Nicki Jhabvala reports in the Denver Post that

Amy Van Dyken-Rouen wants to "rock out" her wheelchair. She wants it to have skulls and crossbones, and she wants it to be purple, with her hair to match. Then she wants to wheelchair race her father.

She's "excited" about this new phase in her life. It's a rebirth.

She will pose for photos from her hospital bed with a big smile and a thumbs-up.

She will joke on Twitter about missing her Keurig coffee but is looking forward to having good parking at Arizona Diamondbacks games in Phoenix.

She will have surgeries and spend days in the intensive care unit, and come out sounding as though life couldn't be grander.

The six-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer, who suffered a severed spinal cord in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Show Low, Ariz., on June 6 and is paralyzed from the waist down, has amazed her fans and followers with her upbeat attitude.

But those who know her aren't surprised.

Please read here what those who know her have to say about her attitude.

"She will find a way to challenge this new world"

Kieran Nicholson reports in the Denver Post:

Six-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Amy Van Dyken-Rouen completely severed her spinal cord in an ATV accident near her Arizona home and is in intensive care in a Scottsdale hospital.

"Amy awoke within hours of surgery acting like her typical spunky, boisterous, ebullient self and has spent the last 24 hours entertaining her family and her medical staff in the ICU," read a statement her family released to swimmingworldmagazine.com.

Van Dyken-Rouen, who was injured Friday near the couple's Arizona home, is in the third day of a critical period and is showing signs of improving, Rouen said.

After surgery, "she needed about three days before she is out of the woods," Rouen said. "She is strong and has a great attitude."

Van Dyken-Rouen, who graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 1991, won four gold medals — 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 4x100-meter freestyle relay and 4x100-meter medley relay — at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. She took home two more golds at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, repeating in the relay events.

The couple had been out to dinner near their home, and Van Dyken-Rouen was riding an ATV back when she hit a curb and the vehicle tumbled down an embankment.

Rouen, a former Broncos punter, raced to her aid on his motorcycle.

"She wasn't breathing," Rouen said. "I raised up the back of her neck with my hand, she started gasping for air."

A paramedic came across the accident and helped Rouen. When emergency responders arrived, Van Dyken-Rouen was conscious but was having trouble breathing, according to a police report. She was transported by helicopter to a hospital.

"Amy was unable to move her toes or her feet when asked by EMS," a Show Low Police Department report said. "When asked about feeling in her legs, Amy stated she could not feel anything touching her legs."

Van Dyken-Rouen will likely remain in ICU for at least several days.

"I'm really worried about her," said 2000 Sydney Olympics teammate B.J. Bedford Miller, who now lives in Fort Collins. "You don't want this to happen to anybody, but I don't know of anybody who's more of a fighter, who will figure out a way to look at this positively and find a way to challenge this new world. I don't know anyone other than Amy who can do that."

On Monday, the Van Dyken and Rouen families released a statement. "Amy's spinal cord was completely severed at the T11 vertebra, but, miraculously, a broken vertebra stopped within millimeters of rupturing her aorta," the statement said.

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