Vote for Lambert - 2020 L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth

In the face of adversity, there are two types of people. There are people who count themselves out and then there are people who step up, evolve and set the bar higher than anyone could ever imagine. UMass Lowell women's lacrosse alum Noelle Lambert is the latter. After losing her leg in a moped accident in 2016, she fought her way back to close out her Division I career in historic fashion.
 
But Lambert did not stop there. In 2018, she launched the Born to Run Foundation, a foundation that provides prosthetics to amputees as part of their journey to be able to walk and run again. And now, in 2020, not only is Lambert training as a Team USA Track and Field Paralympian for the 2021 Tokyo Games, but she has also been nominated for the L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award.
 
"From the beginning when I was in the hospital, having all the support from my family and my friends, especially my parents and all my teammates at UMass Lowell, they were the ones motivating me to stay positive," commented Lambert. "I also had a lot of the Boston Marathon survivors reach out and help me. Seeing everything that they've gone through, I couldn't sit there and feel sorry for myself. So I would say the reason why I'm so positive is just the people that I have in my life."
 
Lambert took this motivation and inspiration, and used it to create her Born to Run Foundation.
 
"Personally, I received two different specialized prosthetics when I was going through my whole recovery process; my running blade from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and then my waterproof prosthetic from the Heather Abbott Foundation," she explained. "Being connected to those foundations really inspired me to want to give back because I wouldn't be where I am today without those prosthetics. Receiving all the help that I did, I thought it was definitely my duty to give back. I also wanted to show other amputees out there who were going through similar situations that just because something like this happens to you doesn't mean your life is over."      
 
Through the foundation, Lambert has been able to provide prosthetics to nine recipients since its creation, with a milestone 10th donation coming soon. According to Lambert, a specialized prosthetic can range anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on the type. The running blades, depending on if they fit above or below the knee, are around $20,000. And all of these costs are out-of-pocket for amputees, as insurance typically only covers an everyday prosthetic.
 
"If you're a new amputee coming into this world and you were very active before, getting the news that you can run again, but you have to pay this huge amount of money can be devastating. That set me back a little personally because I didn't think that I was going to be able to raise that type of money. So, that's definitely one of our biggest goals. We don't want people worrying about having to pay for a specialized prosthetic."
 
Due to her outstanding work with the Born to Run Foundation, Lambert is one of 10 women nominated for the 2020 L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award. This award honors extraordinary women, who selflessly volunteer their time to serve their communities. Lambert has already earned $10,000 for her foundation just by being named a finalist, but the woman who receives the most votes by November 27, will receive an additional $25,000 for her charity.
 
"Obviously due to COVID, we weren't able to have any of our fundraisers that we normally have over the summer, so we've kind of had to slow down our donations," Lambert said. "If we get the additional $25,000, we'd be able to donate maybe one or two more prosthetics right away. We have about six people in line right now, so we want to get them their prosthetics as quickly as possible and get them doing the things that they want to do as quickly as possible."
 
In reflecting upon how far she has come both as an athlete and philanthropist since graduating from UMass Lowell, Lambert says she is still using a lot of what she learned during her time as a River Hawk.
 
"To be honest, I was that type of athlete that was kind of very lazy before my accident," Lambert admitted. "I didn't like doing extra work and I only loved the games. Having something like this happen to me just kind of changed my whole mindset. My coaches at UMass Lowell took the time to work on extensive drills with me as I worked my way back.  My strength coaches were amazing and they took the time to help me figure out the mechanics of my leg. I'm 10 times stronger than I was with two legs and it's just because of all the things that I learned at UMass Lowell."
 
Since graduating from UMass Lowell, Lambert has quickly made a name for herself in the track community as a Paralympian for Team USA. She competed at the 2019 World Championships in Dubai, where she placed fourth in the world and set a new 100 meter U.S. record. Lambert acknowledges the challenges she's faced during that transition from lacrosse to track and field, and what that process was like for her.
 
"When I graduated, I only had my trainer from home and she was a lacrosse coach. She had no idea what to do with track either, so I literally bought a pair of blocks and I was going to the track every single day with her trying to figure it out."
 
Regarding what is next for the Paralympian, while there are some uncertainties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lambert continues to have her sights set on Tokyo 2021.
 
"As far as the U.S. right now, we don't have any competitions lined up because we just simply don't know, but obviously, the health and safety of the athletes is first priority," concluded Lambert. "Training right now is very laid back, working on the mechanics and staying in pretty good shape. It's actually good that I have this time to work on the things that I need to get better at because I am so new to the sport, so this pause in activities was kind of a blessing in disguise for me. That's just life. Things get thrown at you and you just need to adapt and you need to move forward."
 
In the meantime, Lambert will continue to pursue her efforts with the Born to Run Foundation. If you would like to support Lambert in the L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award process, you can vote once per day until Nov. 27 HERE.