Publisher Description
ESPN personality and Paralympics champion Victoria Arlen shares her courageous and miraculous story of recovery after falling into a mysterious vegetative state at age eleven and how she broke free, overcoming the odds and never giving up hope, eventually living a full and inspiring life.
When Victoria Arlen was eleven years old, she contracted two rare diseases simultaneously and fell into a mysterious vegetative state. For two years her mind was dark, but in the third year, her mind broke free, and she was able to think clearly and to hear and feel everything—but no one knew.
When she was fifteen years old, against all odds and medical predictions, she was finally able to communicate through eye blinks, and she gradually regained her ability to speak and eat and move her upper body, but she faced the devastating reality of paralysis from the waist down because of damage to her spine. However, Victoria didn’t lose her strength or steadfast determination, and two years later, she won a gold medal for swimming at the London 2012 Paralympics.
In Locked In, Victoria shares her never-before-published story—the pain, the struggle, the fight to live and thrive, and most importantly, the faith that carried her through. Her journey was not easy, but by believing in God’s healing power and forgiveness, she is living proof that, despite seemingly insurmountable odds and challenges, the will to survive and resolve to live can be a force stronger than our worst deterrents.
Not many people get a second chance at life like Victoria has, and she made a promise to God that she would make every moment count.
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About the Authors
Victoria Arlen is a survivor of transverse myelitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. In 2010 after almost four years, she fought her way out of a coma and back to life. She has since become a motivational speaker, actress, model, and swimmer. She has become world famous not only for her story and accomplishments, but for her message, “Face It, Embrace It, Defy It, Conquer It.”
Valentin (Val) Aleksandrovich Chmerkovskiy was born in Odessa (Ukraine). He is a professional dancer and is known for his appearances on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Val is the son of Aleksandr and Lariss Chmerkovskiy, and the younger brother to Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Val found his passion for dancing at the age of seven, and by twelve years old he attended his first overseas competition—the German Open. At the German Open, Val and his brother Maks were the only two United States couples there. At the age of fifteen, Val won his first IDSF World Championship and became the first American to do it. Val has had the honor to have been a US Champion fourteen times over his fifteen year dance career. He has many accomplishments, which include the winning of the German Open, Asian-Pacific Championships, US Open, Blackpool, and the World Championships two times. Val, his brother Maksim, and Tony Dovolani opened “Dance with Me” studio in Stamford, Connecticut on April 16th of 2012.