The Past
When Scout was only an infant, a fire took away her right leg from above the knee down. Shortly after this incident, she was found as an abandoned infant on the streets of Nanjing, China and taken to the government orphanage. Inside these isolating walls, she lived in extremely harsh conditions and endured several heart-wrenching years of trauma and anguish.
At the age of 7, Scout was adopted by an American family. It was difficult growing up as the only amputee in a small northern Michigan town of 1,600 people, but she soon discovered that sports could help her transcend the social and cultural barriers she was struggling with.
The Runner
Scout’s breakthrough came at the age of 14 when she was introduced to the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) and met renowned prosthetist Stan Patterson. Shortly after this introduction, Scout ran for the first time and her life was transformed.
Through running, she discovered a belief and self-confidence she never had. The once timid, reclusive, paralyzed by fear girl became a young woman who believed she could do anything and nothing was impossible.
In 2007, Scout enrolled at UCLA on a full-ride academic scholarship. 4 years later, she returned to China for the first time since her adoption to compete in the TRI-2 category at the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships.
In pursuit of her Paralympic dreams, Scout competed at the 2012 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field London Trials, but failed to qualify for the Paralympic Games. Undeterred by this disappointment, she remained dedicated to her training and in 2016, she competed at the Rio Paralympic Games. She is a 5 x National Champion in the 100m and currently the World Record holder in the 400m and American Record holder in the 100 and 200m. In 2017, Scout won her first two global medals at the World Championships in London where she took Bronze in the 100m and long jump. Prior to competing in track, Scout was on the USA Paratriathlon National Team, where she won 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal at the ITU Paratriathlon World Championships.
The Future
Today, Scout is a Paralympian, U.S. Paralympic Track and Field National Team member, Nike athlete, speaker and passionate spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. In addition to helping other challenged athletes pursue their dreams, she is rigorously training for another Paralympic Games – Tokyo 2020.
