Amy Van Dyken, the six-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer who
severed her spinal cord in an ATV accident in Arizona two months ago, left the hospital Thursday.
Van Dyken, who goes by her married name Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, has been a pillar of strength since becoming paralyzed from the waist down, chronicling her rehabilitation process almost daily on social media.
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"Packing up and wearing my cool #AmysArmy hat my friend Sue made for me," the 41-year-old captioned a photo posted Thursday. "Thx @CraigHospital I'll see ya soon! Van Dyken-Rouen OUT!"
"It's been a lot of smiles and a lot of laughs and
a lot of woo-hoos," Van Dyken-Rouen told CBS News of her recovery process. "You all of the sudden go, 'Woop! We got another chance. Let's do it right!' I'm going to ride bikes. I'm going to mountain climb. I'm going to rock climb. I want to do everything."
"I've met some amazing people here, and they've really changed the way I think," she added. "I've made lifelong friends, and they've changed the way that I think about the world."
Family and friends praised Van Dyken-Rouen as someone who's resilient and who will "fight tooth and nail to overcome" challenges. Indeed, the Olympian showed off her positive outlook in an interview with CBS News last month.
"It has to be fun. This is my new life," she said. "I have no other choice. This is what's happened to me. I am a paraplegic. You know, I had fun before in my life. This new, new life has to be fun as well. So fun. Fun it is."
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