Noelle Lambert: Founded the Born to Run Foundation
Noelle Lambert poses with 3-year-old Isaak Depelteau, who had a prosthetic blade donated to him by the Born to Run Foundation.
After losing her left leg in a moped accident in 2016, Noelle Lambert inspired so many with her triumphant return to the UML women’s lacrosse team last year. Lambert discovered two things during her comeback: She couldn’t do it alone, and prosthetics for athletic use are very expensive, ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.
So Lambert created the Born to Run Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing child amputees with the specialty prosthetics that will allow them to run again.
“I received so many helping hands from so many different people throughout my entire journey,” says Lambert, a criminal justice major from Londonderry, N.H. “After learning the costs of prosthetics and how insurance companies will only cover your everyday prosthetic, it inspired me to start my own foundation to give back to others.”
So far, Born to Run has donated prosthetics to 3-year-old Isaak Depelteau and 24-year-old Emma Graham.
“Seeing the look on Isaak's face when he was first able to run on his own was a very emotional moment,” Lambert says. “And when Emma received her waterproof prosthetic, she said it was the first time she actually felt normal. Those are the moments you live for, and I am so grateful to be able to help in any way I can.”
Lambert, who plans to grow the foundation so that it’s able to donate three to five prosthetics each year, isn’t finished with her own athletic pursuits. She’s training to run the 100-meter dash in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.