Film Series: Row of Life

Angela Madsen’s life reads like a parable of resilience; beginning with the backstory of her childhood as a closeted gay woman, to a botched surgery during her time in the Marine Corps that left her paralyzed and homeless, to her remarkable rise to adaptive sports superstar as a 3x Paralympian and 14x Guinness World Record holder, and finally to her attempt to row across the Pacific Ocean alone.

Row of Life opens with Angela’s incredible story and bond to her wife, Deb, as they prepare for her final ocean crossing. In April 2020, Angela set off solo and unassisted in her 20’ ocean rowing boat, Row of Life, affixed with everything needed to be self-reliant for 100 days, across 2,500 miles of open ocean, from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

If she achieved this, Angela, at 60, would’ve been the oldest woman, first openly queer athlete, and only paraplegic to ever do so. Despite having already rowed every ocean, this was Angela’s most ambitious goal yet, and she intended to retire from ocean-rowing once completed.

Except Angela never made it.