Community Corner

Paraplegic Military Vet Will Row From Santa Cruz to Hawaii

It would be a challenge for anyone to row 2,300 miles solo from Santa Cruz to Hawaii. It may be even more of a challenge for former Marine, Angela Madsen, who can't walk.

"It's probably a lot harder," she said Friday, as she was preparing to launch from the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz Saturday at 11:30. She plans to arrive in Waikiki, oh, 80 or 100 days later.

"But, that's like everything else. It's harder for me to move around on the boat. I'll probably have more pain than someone else. The rods in my back have teeth and they gnaw at me from the inside out."

But it was this pain and determination that saved her life.

She lost the use of her legs in a basketball game. She was the center on the Marine team and someone fell on her. Mistakes in the surgeries done by Veteran's Administration doctors made it worse and ended her chance of walking.

Then, it took 13 years of fighting the system to get her benefits. The Veteran's Administration destroyed documents and fought against giving her benefits. 
She ended up homeless, depressed, she lost her relationship and attempted suicide. 

"It was hard enough getting used to not surfing and not participating in sports," she said. "All I could see in my future was suffering."

She suffered depression for two years, but then someone encouraged her to participate in the Paralympics, athletic competitions for people in wheelchairs.

That brought back the traits she had before the injury. 

"I've always had a really strong work ethic," she said. "I've always worked hard at things. I've always been resilient and I developed great coping skills. The more I got out there in my little boat, the more I wanted to do."

She followed the news about other women who rowed across the ocean, and decided it was something she had to do. 

"I thought, I want to do that, but I'm so afraid. When I became disabled, I threw away my dreams. I was hopeless and depressed for two years. I just thought I can't do that. I thought the same about ocean rowing. Then, I realized I can't really say can't."

She did her first ocean row across the Atlantic in 2007 with an amputee from France. She spoke no French and he spoke no English, but they shared the adventure. She's since crossed the Atlantic three times and the Indian Ocean once for a total of 230 days rowing. But this one, going solo, is her big dream.

An Ohio native who lives in Long Beach, she's leaving from Santa Cruz because it's the most direct route. There will be a ceremony before she shoves off, attended by Mayor Hilary Bryant. Madsen, 53, is dedicating this trip to disabled veterans and has pictures of many on her boat, the Spirit of Orlando.

She said there are a million vets whose claims are pending and some 200,000 who have been denied.

"That was a way tougher process than rowing across the ocean," she said of the legal struggles. "I might be the only disabled person who rows across oceans, but I'm not the only one going through those things."

For the next two months her life will be in two hour shifts. Two hours rowing; two hours sleeping. All day; all night.

"Where else can I get a job where I work two hours and sleep two hours?"

Her meals are all dehydrated. Breakfast is granola and protein powder. Dinner is freeze-dried Beef Stroganoff and freeze-dried cheesecake for dessert. She's got a treat bag of candy and chocolate bars to stave off the 5,000 calories she'll burn rowing 12-18 hours every day. She also got a donation of some military MRE meals, which she said, brings her back to her roots.

"I'll be thin as a rail on the other end," she said. 

She's written a book called Rowing Against the Wind, due to be released when she ends her trip, but she has no sponsors and is asking for donations to offset the expenses, which are on credit cards. 

You can follow her trip and make donations at www.rowoflife.com. She'll also call in to Santa Cruz Patch through the voyage. If you have questions, post them in the comments below and we'll relay them by the satellite phone that is her link to her family and friends.
How will she handle the loneliness?

"I'm in awe and amazement of the ocean," she said. On past trips she's seen Orca whales, flying fish that buzzed into her boat, Manta Rays, sharks and dolphins.

"I can be in a crowded room and feel lonely. Our guys feel like that when they come home from deployment and try to transition back to society. Going out to sea is like a deployment. This gives me a solidarity for the troops and what they are doing."


You can watch her train in this video.


















 


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