Ever since the London 2012 Paralympics nudged para-athletes into the spotlight, there has been no shortage of examples of their inspirational stories.

There is one individual whose tale is perhaps even more uplifting than most. American Tatyana McFadden won her fourth consecutive Chicago Marathon title on Sunday in the women's wheelchair race, adding another success to her incredible list of achievements.

The 25-year-old has won 11 Paralympic medals, three of them gold, as well as 10 International Paralympic Committee world championship titles. Last year, McFadden claimed victory in the London, Boston, New York and Chicago marathons, making her the first athlete, disabled or able-bodied, to win four major marathons in one year.

But her impressive list of victories is arguably overshadowed by her struggle to become an athlete in the first place. McFadden was born in St Petersburg, Russia in 1989 with spina bifida, a fault in the development of the spinal cord which paralysed her from the waist down. McFadden's parents were unable to care for a disabled child so abandoned her in an orphanage. The orphanage was too poor to afford a wheelchair so McFadden spent the first six years of her life walking on her hands.

Then her life changed forever. Debbie McFadden, an American who worked as an official for the US Health Department, first met Tatyana at her orphanage during a working visit to Russia. She decided to adopt the young girl and bring her to the USA. For Tatyana, the move gave her the first taste of being part of a family and it also meant that she was given her first wheelchair.

But things quickly turned sour, with Tatyana becoming extremely sick soon after her arrival in America. She developed severe anaemia and was dangerously underweight, with doctors telling Debbie McFadden that Tatyana's chances of survival were slim and giving her only months to live. The child defied expectations, however, and Tatyana did not merely survive, she blossomed.

In an attempt to aid her adopted daughter's physical recovery, Debbie enrolled her in as many sports as she could and found that not only was Tatyana able to participate in these sports, she was actually good at them. She was beginning to develop into a formidable athlete. It has not always been easy, though.

On Tatyana's return from her first Paralympics in Athens in 2004, the then 15-year-old wanted to compete in school track events against students who didn't have a disability. She was told that she couldn't but Tatyana and Debbie would not accept this. The mother and daughter team took the case to court, successfully suing her school, which ultimately led to a new law - now known across the US as Tatyana's Law - which allows all students with a disability to compete in sporting events alongside able-bodied students.

This was the start of Tatyana's campaign for increased rights for disabled people. "That made me grow up fast and also made me understand that I really wanted to support people with disabilities to help them get involved in sport," she said. "Nobody should be segregated and told you can't do this, because you can."

In 2012, the Russian government banned Americans from adopting Russian children, prompting the McFaddens to lead calls for the bill to be dismissed. Their attempts failed and when Tatyana qualified for the US Winter Paralympic team and travelled to Sochi to compete in the one kilometre cross-country skiing sprint, she felt that she had a point to prove. She told her adoptive mother, "if I go, I can show Russians that adopted children are doing great. And you can do great things if you have a disability".

The McFaddens' trip to Russia had a personal side to it, too. Throughout Tatyana's burgeoning athletic career, she had little contact with her birth mother in Russia. That all changed in Sochi. Tatyana was reunited with her birth mother, and she and Debbie McFadden sat side-by-side cheering their daughter to a silver medal.

It was the first time that Tatyana's birth mother had ever seen her daughter compete, but the athlete insisted that she bore no ill feelings towards her. "I love her," she said. "She could have been selfish and kept me, but medically, I probably wouldn't have been able to live long in Russia. She sees me on the news, so I hope she's proud."

Tatyana McFadden's story illustrates just how powerful sport can be. Sport does not just change people's lives, it can save them. And in an age when the news is incessantly dominated by conflict and violence, McFadden's story shows that bridges can be built between nations and relationships can be formed through sport, irrespective of whatever else is going on in the world.