The Team USA athlete, who has won 17 Paralympic Games medals successful her illustrious career, was diagnosed with a humor clotting upset successful 2017, soon aft her six-medal masterclass astatine the 2016 Rio Games.
Between February and April successful 2017, McFadden describes having "several surgeries" to effort to hole the problem, but the clots "kept coming backmost and they kept traveling."
The 32-year-old outlines a 20-month travel to escaped her assemblage of the problem, including the lymphedema that happened arsenic a result, to conscionable statesman her betterment phase.
And due to the fact that of wherever she was successful narration to her competitors' preparation, competing astatine her sixth Paralympic Games was ne'er a fixed aft enduring the "scariest time" of her career.
McFadden volition vie successful 5 antithetic events successful Tokyo successful the T54 classification. According to the World Para Athletics, successful the T54 classification, "Athletes person afloat precocious musculus powerfulness successful the arms and immoderate to afloat musculus powerfulness successful the trunk. Athletes whitethorn person immoderate relation successful the legs."
"I deliberation if we spoke possibly successful 2018 oregon 2019, I astir apt would've been like, 'I don't know' due to the fact that my speeds weren't rather there, I was rather acold from the leader," McFadden told CNN's Selina Wang.
"I had bully races and I had immoderate atrocious races, but I did astonishment myself, and I was doing OK successful the marathons and inactive benignant of hanging in, hanging on. But portion I was connected my betterment phase, everyone other was getting faster."
'We're warring a bully fight'
For the Russian-born McFadden, her roadworthy has been a agelong 1 to the apical of her discipline.
From being raised successful a St. Petersburg orphanage without immoderate disablement assistance to being adopted by her American parent and moved to the US arsenic a six-year-old, she has been accustomed to battling hardships.
McFadden attributes the difficulties which she had to flooded arsenic a kid arsenic portion of the crushed wherefore she has go specified a palmy athlete.
She precocious discovered arsenic portion of a NHK documentary that a information of her brain, the portion usually attributed to "will" feeling successful humans, is larger than the mean person.
"I deliberation it came from learning however to past successful the conditions that I was successful and having that volition to unrecorded to the adjacent day, to the adjacent day, to the adjacent day."
Since she was introduced to para athletics by her parent arsenic a mode of helping her turn arsenic a person, McFadden has seen large change.
Yet it hasn't beryllium an casual road. She remembers arriving backmost successful the US aft making her Paralympic debut astatine the 2004 Athens Games excited to commencement competing astatine her caller precocious school.
However, she was denied a azygous and told she wasn't allowed to compete. "My freshman aforesaid thought: 'I deliberation I'm being discriminated. I deliberation I'm 100% being discriminated for being disabled,'" she remembers.
In 2005, McFadden and her parent Deborah filed a suit against the Howard County Public School System and won the close for her to contention astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic the runners.
And this year's Paralympics Games is simply a peculiarly memorable 1 for the 32-year-old due to the fact that of her journey.
Before her competitory enactment begins, McFadden paid tribute to each the "wonderful change" that has happened successful para sport. The Tokyo 2020 Games are the archetypal successful which Team USA athletes -- both Olympians and Paralympians -- are paid arsenic careless of gender.
"We've travel a agelong mode and we're warring a bully fight, and it's for each the close reasons," she said.
"We're being advocates for a bully reason, and I'm truthful excited and I'm truthful happy. I deliberation a medal I volition triumph astatine these Games is going to mean truthful overmuch much than immoderate different medal I deliberation I've won astatine the Games. I'm conscionable unbelievably truthful blessed and thankful for the athletes earlier maine and continuing to beryllium that voice. Clearly, Paralympic athletes are successful it for the emotion of the sport."
Respect
In her 16-year vocation arsenic an athlete, McFadden has accomplished astir each determination is to achieve.
She's won 7 Paralympic golden medals, six silvers and 3 bronzes crossed a assortment of antithetic sports, from varying region athletics races to the marathon.
She adjacent recovered clip to triumph a metallic successful the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games successful Sochi successful the cross-country skiing 1km sprint.
On apical of each that, she's won the wheelchair divisions astatine galore marathons -- including Boston, London and New York -- and has won 17 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championship medals, including 13 golds.
The silverware doesn't lie: McFadden is simply a serial winner.
Yet contempt this, she besides has travel to recognize the value of maintaining bully carnal and intelligence wellness arsenic an athlete.
Speaking astir chap Team USA jock Simone Biles choosing to beryllium retired competitions citing her intelligence health, McFadden says she is "proud of her due to the fact that it is hard."
"For athletes, we enactment truthful overmuch connected ourselves and we honestly deliberation that we're failures if we don't triumph oregon get top," she said. "I consciousness similar there's a mindset that lone gold's highlighted, that metallic and bronze are conscionable OK.
"And we worked for 4 years for this. And truthful we bash enactment a batch of unit connected ourselves, astir excessively much. And truthful I deliberation looking astatine the intelligence wellness is ace important due to the fact that steadfast surviving should beryllium the No. 1 goal. Everything other should travel 2nd and 3rd and truthful on.
"We're already champions for making the team. And past the next, we're champions for getting into the finals due to the fact that we're the apical 8 successful the satellite astatine that constituent and cipher tin bash what we do. I would emotion to spot idiosyncratic get into racing seat and bash 26.2 miles successful nether 2 hours. It takes time. It takes dedication and a peculiar accomplishment set. And truthful I applaud each the athletes who talked astir intelligence wellness due to the fact that it made maine realize: 'I'm going to beryllium OK. We're each going to beryllium OK. And we are relation models due to the fact that the satellite is listening.'"
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