Most stories that begin with childhood abuse and poverty do not have a happy ending.

But for Melissa Apodaca, a passion for sports and the help of a few friends led her out of her troubled past into success in wrestling and an eventual home at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs. Rather than accept the comforts of her new life, though, Apodaca vowed to be a voice of change for others in situations like the one she grew up in.

“Growing up was really hard,” Apodaca said. “We moved to Alaska when I was like six from Colorado. My mom did a lot of drugs, we were homeless and we’d always be like going from one house … It was really hard because it was like I was the adult and I was just a kid, I wasn’t even a teenager.”

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