LONDON -- Angela Madsen's journey to the London 2012 Paralympics is nothing short of extraordinary.

Complications following a back injury she sustained while serving in Marine Corps at the age of 20 led to her becoming a paraplegic when she was in her 30s.

Bound to a wheelchair, she fell into a deep depression. She lost her job. Her marriage dissolved.

"I lost my house ... I ended up homeless, kept my things in a locker at Disneyland. Happiest place on earth, right?" she told NBC News at the USA track-and-field training camp at RAF Lakenheath, near Cambridge, England, last week.

But the native Californian missed surfing, so she set out to find a way back to the water, determined to turn her life around.

"I started taking responsibility … and started making the changes and decisions to move positively forward in my life,” she said.

Now, her definition of a disabled person is "somebody who doesn't believe they can and doesn't try.”

'Meet the Superhumans': Paralympians burst onto world stage

She competed in the 2006 world surfing championships and then fell in love with rowing.

She turned this hobby into history by rowing across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

"I didn't row across my first ocean until I was 47,” she said with a laugh.

"I have six Guinness World Records for rowing oceans. I've circumnavigated Great Britain ... I've been places on this planet that no human being has ever been before. A thousand miles from land in any direction ... it's been a pretty amazing life."

Read Angela Madsen's profile at the Paralympic Games' website

Next year, she plans to row solo across the Pacific Ocean.

Madsen rowed for Team USA in the Beijing Paralympic Games, narrowly missing the podium. "I missed the medal rounds by 7-hundredths of a second.”

In the London 2012 Paralympic Games, the 52-year-old is trying her hand at track and field events, competing in the women's shot put and javelin.

"I don’t have any regrets about anything. If I could go back and change anything I wouldn't, except for the amount of pain I have with the rods in my back,” Madsen said. “That could definitely go. But I can’t foresee change in anything. I'm very, very satisfied with the life that I have now."

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A second solo Pacific rower caught in a tropical storm has been rescued, according to the adventurer's website.

British ocean-rower Charlie Martell, 41, was picked up by the Russian crew of the MV Last Tycoon at around 9:18 a.m. local time Saturday (4:18 p.m. ET Friday), a message posted on Martell's website said.

Martell was in good condition and was not injured, having waited on his rowing boat, 'Blossom,' for 36 hours after issuing a mayday signal. The Japanese coast guard alerted the Last Tycoon, which altered course to rescue Martell.

In earlier reports posted on Martell's website, his support team said he was sustaining "35-foot waves and the occasional 50-footer. Yes, really."

Another British adventurer, Sarah Outen, 27, was rescued on Friday by the Japanese Coast Guard, having survived the same storm -- which she described as "merciless."

Solo Brit rower rescued after 'merciless' Pacific storm; another waits for help

Outen had been on one leg of a round-the-world journey by bicycle, rowing boat and kayak that started on April 1 last year, and was attempting to be the first woman to row from Japan to Canada.

Martell, meanwhile, was attempting to set records for the fastest crossing of the North Pacific Ocean and the first unsupported row across the Pacific.

He had been at sea since May 4 and was around 700 miles off the northeast coast of Japan when he issued the mayday signal.

In the message on Martell's website, his support team thanked the Japanese coast guard for its effort in coordinating the rescue and to Martell's supporters for their "encouraging messages."

The Last Tycoon was attempting to recover his damaged boat, his support team said.

Martell is expected to arrive in Vancouver, Canada, in about 10 days.

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Japan Coast Guard via EPA

The Japanese Coast Guard rescues British adventurer Sarah Outen from her boat Gulliver about 500 miles east off Japan's northeastern coast, Friday.

A solo Pacific rower caught in a tropical storm for 30 hours was rescued Friday, her support team said on her website, while another stricken solo oarsman waited for help.

British rower Sarah Outen, 27, said her 23-foot boat, named Gulliver, had been "capsizing, capsizing, capsizing" in the "merciless" storm, leaving her "exhausted," in a phone message that was posted on the Internet.

"After, I don't know, 32 hours, 30-something hours, of waiting in the roughest, most frightening weather I've ever been in, I'm very happy to say we're close to being taken out of here," she said, shortly before being picked up by a Japanese Coast Guard vessel.

"I say we, but actually it will just be me, I think, because Gulliver will probably have to stay afloat and look after himself for a while because the seas are currently too rough to be able to pick him up onto the boat," she added.

Japan Coast Guard via EPA

Sarah Outen, 27, center, was rescued after her boat got damaged by a tropical storm.

Japanese Coast Guard had been "wonderful" and "very supportive," she added, also thanking her team and others who offered messages of encouragement that she would get to a "happier, better place."

A message posted on her website a short time later said that "Sarah is now safe aboard the recovery vessel." 

Solo Pacific rower hopes for rescue after boat is rolled by tropical storm

Outen's Pacific row was one leg of a round-the-world journey by bicycle, rowing boat and kayak that started on April 1 last year.

Japan Coast Guard via EPA

Sarah Outen's abandoned boat Gulliver floats in front of a ship after she was rescued by the Japan Coast Guard.

Fellow British Rower Charlie Martell was also awaiting rescue in his boat Blossom, according to the Pacific2012.com website. Martell was approximately 280 miles northeast of Outen. 

"Strong winds and heavy seas led to the repeated capsize of his boat Blossom," the website said. "She then pitch-poled, causing structural damage and leaving Charlie no choice but to abort the voyage and call for assistance ... Charlie is unhurt and still on-board Blossom."

"A fast patrol vessel is on its way to Charlie's location and is expected to arrive alongside him at approximately 0200hrs on 9 June," it added.

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