Noelle Lambert’s life changed on Martha’s Vineyard.
Ms. Lambert lost her leg in a moped accident in 2016. At the time she was a division one lacrosse player at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. She ended up returning to school and playing for the team again. More recently she has competed in two Paralympian games.
On Wednesday morning, Ms. Lambert returned to the Island to speak at the regional high school, to talk to the students about her experiences, from the accident to the Paralympic games to her time on the reality television show Survivor.
She still remembers the accident quite clearly.
“The man that was driving behind me actually took a shirt off to create a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, which is one of the only reasons why I’m standing in front of you all today,” she said about the immediate aftermath of the crash. “He saved my life.”
Physically and mentally she battled back, becoming the first above-the-knee amputee to play division one lacrosse. During her first game back as a Riverhawk after the accident, she scored a goal.
“I wanted to celebrate with my teammates and my coaches because, believe me, if it was up to me, I would have quit after that second week, and they were the ones believing in me when I did not believe in myself,” she told the Vineyard students.
After graduating, Ms. Lambert wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her athletic career. Someone from the national Paralympian track and field team reached out to her but she was hesitant at first, having never competed in track and field before. She also hated running. But a month later, she was in Arizona for her first meet, competing against the reigning national champion.
“The gun goes off and about halfway through the race I heard this annoying screeching sound and it was my mother [because] I was actually winning when I crossed the finish line,” she said with a laugh. “So not only did I win and beat the reigning national champion, but I also made the qualifying time to be part of the U.S. Paralympic national track and field team.”
She finished sixth in the Tokyo games, breaking her own American record. But afterwards, she was at a loss again.
“A lot of athletes deal with a lot of mental and physical stress when they get home after competing on the biggest stage because you’re on such a high and then you get home and you’re like, what do I do with my life now?” she recalled.
She packed up her bags and moved to Colorado for two months, learning how to snowboard. Afterwards, another opportunity arrived when a casting director from Survivor contacted her. Ms. Lambert was initially hesitant, thinking of all the reasons she shouldn’t do it.
“But then I thought to myself, if I don’t do this, then who is going to show that positive representation for the amputee community, for the disabled community?” she said. “This is my chance to show the world what we’re capable of, and to show the world that just because someone has a disability, it doesn’t mean they’re incapable. It doesn’t mean they’re broken or can’t do something.”
After her time on Survivor, she began competing in track again, most recently at the Paris Paralympic games this past summer, competing in her usual 100-meter race and the long jump, an event she’d only been training for since January.
“I missed out on the podium by centimeters, and I’m not going to lie to you, that was extremely difficult,” she said. “I was ashamed, I was embarrassed, and I took it extremely hard. I viewed it as a failure. But the next day, when I woke up, the sun was still shining and I was literally in the Paralympic village at the Paralympic Games.”
Ms. Lambert told the audience that she is now aiming for gold at the 2028 Los Angeles games. But along with training, she is sharing her story with students to help inspire others.
“When you hear my story, there is a common theme,” she said. “I doubt myself before every single new adventure. Just like all of you, everyone doubts themselves, and how I get through that self doubt is I use it as motivation.”
Off the field, Ms. Lambert is the founder of the Born to Run Foundation, which provides specialized prosthetics to young people who want to continue living an active lifestyle. She was inspired to start this foundation due to the generosity of similar foundations that helped her.
“The best part about my life right now is my foundation, because I get to give back everything that I’ve learned,” she said.
After the talk, students asked questions, from how her prosthetic leg works and how she snowboards, to whether she wants to compete in more sports.
Ms. Lambert said she is focusing on just track for now, adding that she also needs to “cool it and just stop saying yes.”
Ms. Lambert also encouraged the audience to seek help during hard moments.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have an incredible community behind me, and they are the reasons why I was able to accomplish everything,” she aid. “It’s not me. It’s the people I surround myself with who helped me get to that next point, who helped me get to where I need to.”
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