Victoria Arlen: Face It. Embrace It. Defy It. Conquer It | TEDxAmoskeagMillyard

In this video, paralympic gold medalist, Victoria Arlen, shares how she has come a long way from her 3-year coma, which kept her fighting for her life unable to communicate with her family. In this talk, Victoria talks about determination, revival and relearning the basics of human existence. The theme was mindset, the mental attitudes that impact our choices and actions, ultimately influencing our results. From conquering fear to changing perspectives, Arlen explores the many ways outlook, emotions, and beliefs affect our mindset. Arlen also investigates how the mindset we cultivate shapes our path, impacts our organizations, and has the potential to transform our communities. 

At the age of eleven, Victoria Arlen developed two rare neurological conditions, transverse myelitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which left her in a vegetative coma for 4 years and unable to use her legs for nearly a decade. However, she went on to win a Gold Medal and three Silver Medals in the London Paralympic Games for swimming as well as multiple World, American, and Pan American Records. Arlen is an on-air TV personality for ESPN, reporting for the X-Games, the Invictus Games, and SportsCenter, and was a 2017 semi-finalist on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, and has since made many more major media appearances, including on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and in People Magazine, among others.