Cassidy Araiza Amy Van Dyken RouenAmy Van Dyken has never been one to avoid a challenge. As a toddler she suffered from severe asthma and couldn’t walk up and down the stairs of her suburban Denver childhood home without gasping for air. When she was just 6, she started swimming to strengthen her lungs and eventually went on to become an Olympic champion in 1996 — the first American woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympic Games. “You can do absolutely anything you want with asthma,” says Van Dyken, who had won six Olympic gold medals by the time she retired in 2000.In 2014, that same perseverance helped her survive a terrifying, near-fatal ATV accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. “I’ve never been one to give up; I can’t say, ‘Poor me,’ ” says Van Dyken, who has since built a successful sports broadcasting career and leads an active life in Scottsdale, Ariz., with her husband of 24 years, former NFL player Tom Rouen, 57, and their beloved mixed-breed dog Dillon. “You have to learn how to live your life,” says the 52-year-old, who still suffers occasional asthma attacks and keeps an inhaler with her at all times.“I played lacrosse. I snowskied. I rock-climbed. You can do anything you want to do. I’ve always looked at the glass as half-full.” Cassidy Araiza Amy Van Dyken RouenVan Dyken is one of 28 million Americans with asthma, a chronic condition that causes inflammation and a narrowing of the small airways in the lungs; symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. While there’s no cure for asthma — which can be triggered by allergens, exercise, stress, food allergies and weather changes, among other things — it can be effectively managed with medication. “We also encourage patients with asthma, including my own children, not to stop exercising and participate in all kinds of sports,” says Dr. Jose Arias Jr., a national spokesman for the American Lung Association. “Swimming is recommended because it’s indoors, and you’re not outside with the pollen count and the grass. But any kind of aerobic exercise helps you learn how to breathe.”Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Amy Van Dyken/Instagram Amy Van Dyken with her parentsThe oldest of four children, Van Dyken grew up in Englewood, Colo., where her father, Don Van Dyken, was a software company president, and her mom, Becky, a homemaker. Diagnosed with severe asthma in all three categories — allergic, cough-variant and exercise-induced — when she was just 18 months old, Van Dyken says, “I had a really hard time breathing. Anytime the dog would get near me, I’d just start wheezing and gasping. I turned blue a couple of times. My mom was like, ‘We just have to make a normal life for her.’ ” Van Dyken’s parents threw her into a wide range of sports — from soccer to gymnastics, but “swimming was the one thing I latched on to,” says Van Dyken, who competed throughout her school years and, as a senior at Cherry Creek High School in 1991, set two state records before qualifying for the 1992 Olympic trials a year later. She didn’t make the team (she placed fourth in the 50-meter race), but, she says, “that’s when people started going, ‘Oh well, maybe this gawky, asthmatic girl is going to be a good swimmer.’ ”Mark Sandten/Bongarts/Getty Amy Van Dyken 1996 OlympicsVan Dyken (who is dyslexic) enrolled at the University of Arizona, where she studied sign language and became a 12-time All-American swimmer. Two years later she transferred to Colorado State University, where she was planning to end her career (“I was a good swimmer, but I wasn’t the greatest swimmer”) — until her CSU coach John Mattos offered her a scholarship and persuaded her to join the team. “I started swimming for Coach Mattos and broke my first American record — and I was like, ‘This is kind of cool. I think I like this.’ ”But alongside the victories came the struggles with her asthma. In 1994 she was named NCAA swimmer of the year and moved to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to train full-time. “I had an inhaler at each end of the pool,” recalls Van Dyken, who monitored her breathing levels using a peak flow meter, a small handheld device that measures the speed of airflow. “If it was green, I’d work out like everybody else. If it was yellow, I’d do an easy warm-up. And if it was red, I’d have to go home and chill out.” Mark Sandten/Bongarts/Getty  Amy Van Dyken competes in the 1996 OlympicsBut her efforts paid off, and during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Van Dyken won her first four gold medals.“The Olympics are absolutely amazing,” she says. “The fanfare is incredible, and you feel the energy. There’s no better feeling. . . . But the friendships that I made there — that was the best thing about the Olympics,” adds Van Dyken, who went on to win two more gold medals in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney before retiring later that year.By then she’d started dating Denver Broncos punter Tom Rouen, and the two were married in March 2001 in a small ceremony in Hawaii. “My husband helps me by just being there for me,” says Van Dyken.Cassidy Araiza Amy Van Dyken and husband Tom RouenA year later her broadcast and media career “exploded” following her coverage of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City for a Denver TV station.She went on to cohost Fox Sports Tonight for Fox Sports Radio in 2012 before joining NBC in 2021 as an on-air analyst for the Tokyo Games and later the Paris Olympics in 2024, where she earned an Emmy as a member of the larger NBCUniversal broadcast team. “That was pretty cool,” she says.The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!Amy Van Dyken/Instagram Amy Van Dyken in the hospitalBut it was in June 2014 when Van Dyken faced her greatest challenge. She was riding her all-terrain vehicle (ATV) home from a dinner out with friends in Scottsdale when her ATV hit a curb, sending Van Dyken flying over a cliff and into a tree. Rouen arrived minutes later and “could see that my back was broken,” says Van Dyken, who had severed her spinal cord.“Someone had called 911, and my husband rolled me over, got me breathing again.” She was medevaced to the hospital, where she underwent nine hours of lifesaving surgery. “I died a few times in the accident, so I figure I’m here for a reason,” says Van Dyken, who, in addition to her physical injuries, also suffered a traumatic brain injury. She spent two months at a Denver rehab facility relearning all of her basic skills.“I’ve found a lot of grace for people,” she says. “I’m not so quick to judge. I try to lead with love and kindness.”Cassidy Araiza Amy Van Dyken RouenThese days Van Dyken shares her positivity as a motivational speaker at schools and corporate events. “It’s so much fun,” says Van Dyken, who also commentates on collegiate swimming for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In her downtime she stays active, whether it’s “going for a push” in her wheelchair, swimming with the dog or riding her adaptive mountain bike, often with friends. “It’s an electric-assist. It’s got big, huge, fat tires, one on the front, two on the back,” she says. “And what’s really cool is if I’m going to happy hour with the girls, and I don’t want to drive, I can put my wheelchair on the back and just boot-scoot. It’s fantastic. I’ve tipped over a few times, but yeah,” she adds, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Cassidy Araiza Amy Van Dyken PEOPLE Health coverHer inhalers are her constant companions — “sitting right next to me all the time, in my wheelchair pocket, in each car and in my bedroom so I don’t have to move too much; my attacks can get that bad,” says Van Dyken, who’s still triggered by allergens and respiratory infections, and suffers flare-ups about once a year.“I’m not as allergic to animals as I used to be — probably because I’ve had ‘illegal’ dogs my entire adult life. But if I get a cold, it’s going straight to my chest.”“Not every day is a great day, and there are a lot of challenges,” she adds. “But I take a breath, and then I’m okay with all that. I want to be out in the world — so I say, ‘Suck it up, buttercup.’ ”Read the original article on People