[1] In a long career, Madsen moved from race rowing to ocean challenges before switching in 2011 to athletics, winning a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

[3] Most of Madsen's immediate family were military, so when her brothers told her she "couldn't make it as a Marine", it made her determined to join.

[3] In 1980, at her first Marine Corps basketball training session, she fell on the court and another player stepped on her back, rupturing two discs in her spine.

Already suffering from spinal degeneration from the basketball injury, she had corrective surgery the next year, which left her with both legs paralyzed.

[4] The defining point in her recovery came after she fell onto subway tracks in San Francisco and feared she had broken her neck.

[7] Madsen was introduced to rowing when her wheelchair basketball sponsor invited her to a learn-to-row event in Dana Point.

[6] In 2008, Madsen represented the United States at her first Summer Paralympics, competing at the 2008 Games in Beijing in the mixed double sculls with William Brown, though they did not progress through the repechage and finished seventh.

[4] Her results leading up to the games qualified her for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, competing in the shot put (F54–56) and javelin throw (F54/55/56).

[14] In November 2014, Madsen received the Athletes in Excellence Award from The Foundation for Global Sports Development in recognition of her community service efforts and work with youth.

[15] She held six Guinness World Records and was working toward another (as the oldest woman and first paraplegic to row across the Pacific alone) at the time of her death.