In 2005, Stockwell became the first female to lose a limb during active combat when her vehicle was struck by an IED outside of Baghdad. Her lower left leg was amputated, and although she underwent a number of surgeries and survived a number of infections, she writes on her website that her sense of gratitude and hope remained intact.

The journey that led her to become an international athletic champion and sports world icon is nothing short of inspiring. Just three years after her injury, she became the first Iraq veteran to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. After that, Stockwell changed over to triathlon, earning three national titles and three international titles.

Stockwell has been nominated for multiple ESPYs and has won a host of other awards. But according to a profile in Sports Illustrated, Stockwell is not the exception to the rule. Instead, the magazine suggested that Stockwell is at the forefront of a new generation of physically impaired veterans who have used advances in technology, along with their own resilience, to fight against the notion that they are disabled.

Along the way, Stockwell wrote, she has relied on the support of organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Project and the Achilles’ Freedom Team. Today, she is on the board of directors of the Wounded Warrior Project and the USA Triathlon Foundation.

Stockwell is pregnant with her first child, and she is expected to give birth in November. She told reporters for the U.S. Olympic Team that the timing of the baby was part of her plan for Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Although she was not sure until recently that she would be able to try out for the team, she told reporters that she had been training just in case.

Now, she says, she is ready to give it her all to achieve her dreams of Paralympic success.

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Dr. Michael Lipton, associate director of the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, will conduct MRIs as 50 participants perform tasks involving short-term memory, inattention, and impulsiveness.

Those participants include 25 Ohio veterans with traumatic brain injuries and one brother or other close male relative each, so the doctor can compare a damaged brain to a healthy brain and rule out factors such as genetics and upbringing.

Traumatic brain injuries occur when the brain is jarred or shaken inside the skull, such as in a car or truck accident. Army veteran Ryan Gleich “suffered his most significant brain injury in 2003 outside Baghdad when a roadside bomb lifted the tail end of his Humvee from the road and tossed him across the vehicle,” the Dispatch reported.

Almost immediately, Gleich became antisocial, “ultra-aggressive,” and forgetful, which led to his divorce. Six years later, the 33-year-old has remarried and found help from support groups, but he still finds it difficult to motivate himself to leave the house, he said.

“Chase Russell was injured in multiple close-range explosions in 2010 and 2011 in Afghanistan,” per the Dispatch. “The worst was in September 2011, when a suicide bomber blew up his base.”

Like Gleich, the 25-year-old veteran has shut himself off from friends. He also has a hard time keeping a job and lacks the focus to go to college. “Nothing is really the same as it used to be,” he said.

Below, Cleveland brain injury attorney Chris Mellino discusses the difference between a head injury and a brain injury, common causes of a brain injury, and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.