The Costco Connection

Miracle members Costco members defy the odds Costco members defy the odds

AFTER A CYCLING accident during a ;;;; triathlon left her a paraplegic, Costco member Beth Sanden was never supposed to walk again. But the Ironman champion and multiple triathlon winner had other ideas. In the years since, after recovering partial use of one leg, the now ;;-year-old has competed in ;; marathons and ;; triathlons. She has also earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, having completed seven marathons on all seven continents.

Sanden, competing as a “challenged athlete,” has shown what a partial paraplegic can accomplish. In triathlons, she uses a handcycle for the bike and run portions,

SPECIAL SECTION

FOR YOUR HEALTH

COSTCO MEMBER Vivian Stancil
received some sobering news from
her doctor at age ;;: If she didn’t change
her health habits, she likely wouldn’t see
;;. At ;;; pounds, Stancil was legally
blind, experiencing a heart murmur and
grappling with a lifelong fear of water. The
Riverside, California, resident says swim-
ming was one of the few options she had to
lose weight, on account of her chronic joint
pain. “It took that [threat] for me to get
serious,” she tells The Connection. “I didn’t
want to die.”
After her husband encouraged her to
get into the water at a community pool, she
jumped in, shaking and afraid, then bobbed
up and realized, “This isn’t so bad!” Stancil
worked with a private coach who got in the
water with her to help her position her arms
and feel movements so she could learn
different strokes.

Early in her lessons, her back went out as she was trying to learn the butterfly, and she encountered a hospital doctor who questioned why an “old lady” would be trying to learn that particular stroke. It made her so mad that she resolved to master it. By ;;;;, she was competing in state and national competitions, and she became a regular competitor at the National Senior Games ( nsga.com), winning several medals.

Stancil has since become an honored Senior Olympian. Today, at ;;, she’s more than ;;; pounds lighter and still competes in the games at the state and national level, often as the oldest swimmer.

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Ever feel like quitting? You won’t dare feel that way again after reading the inspirational stories behind these Costco members.—T. Foster Jones

She started the Vivian Stancil Olympian Foundation ( vivianstancilfoundation.org), which teaches athletics and healthy lifestyle choices to disadvantaged youths and seniors. She also sits on the board of the Riverside Commission on Disabilities.

“I think positive,” she says. “I hang around positive people, and [that’s] what gives me that competitive spirit. You take one day at a time and you enjoy what you have. I don’t have bad days.

I don’t allow people to tell me that I cannot do something because I’m blind or I don’t have enough sense. Maybe I’m not doing it the way they’re doing it, but I look up and not down.” —Hana Medina

OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS

Click here to watch Vivian Stancil talk about her journey. (See page 10 for details.)

and her wetsuit keeps her legs buoyant enough for her swim segments. For some marathons, such as the Great Wall Marathon in China, she uses a combination of a cane, walker and handcycle.

Sanden completed the Kilimanjaro Marathon in Tanzania, the Ross Marathon in Tasmania, the Lima;;K Marathon in Peru, the Boston Marathon, the Rome Marathon in Italy, the White Continent Marathon in Antarctica, the Phu Quoc International Marathon in Vietnam and, as the first female challenged athlete in the event, the North Pole Marathon, a race that takes competitors on a ;;.;-mile course in subzero temperatures over the frozen Arctic Ocean.

The San Clemente, California, resident also volunteers for the Challenged Athletes Foundation in San Diego, brought handcycles to Africa and South America, and coaches at the Orange County Paratriathlon Camp. In addition, she coaches members of Camp Pendleton’s Wounded Warrior Battalion–West in track and field.

“The reason why I’m doing this is to
hopefully inspire other guys and gals like
myself,” Sanden says. “There are things out
there you can do even if you’re disabled.”
—TFJ