Victoria Arlen.
The fight to be still.
Author of Locked In · Founder, Victoria's Victory Foundation
Special Olympics Global Ambassador
For nearly four years she was locked inside her own body — fully aware, unable to move, speak, or tell anyone she was still there. She fought her way back to a gold medal, to walking, to a life on camera. Now she partners with Valo to share the quiet ritual that lets her reset before the climb begins again.
Instead of writing her obituary, she wrote a bucket list.
Victoria Arlen's life drastically changed in 2006 at the tender age of eleven, when she developed two rare conditions known as Transverse Myelitis and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis. It was an incredibly rare scenario, and Victoria quickly lost the ability to speak, eat, walk, and move. She slipped into a vegetative state in which doctors had written her off as a lost cause.
Victoria spent nearly four years "locked" inside her own body — completely aware of what was going on, just unable to move or communicate. Doctors believed there was little hope of survival and recovery was unlikely. Not ready to give up, Victoria decided that instead of writing her obituary, she wrote a bucket list of the things she would achieve when she survived.
In 2010, after almost four years, she began the nearly impossible fight back to life — learning how to speak, eat, and move all over again, while checking things off that bucket list.
- Co-founded the Victoria's Victory Foundation with her mother Jacqueline, assisting those with mobility-related disabilities. Since 2017, VVF has awarded over a million dollars in scholarship funds to those who need it most.
- Set world records at 17 as a swimmer for Team USA — winning one gold and three silver medals at the London 2012 Games.
- Transitioned from professional athlete to sportscaster, joining ESPN at 20 as one of the youngest on-air talents ever hired by the company. Her TV career has since expanded across networks, including hosting American Ninja Warrior Jr. on NBC/Peacock.
- Spent a decade in a wheelchair — then defied all odds by learning to walk again, and one year later competed on Dancing with the Stars, placing in the Top 5.
- Wrote Locked In, sharing her story (2018) — with her second book, The View Is Worth It, arriving May 2026.
Amongst all of this, Victoria has spoken on stages all over the world, becoming a sought-after motivational speaker — living by the motto that helped her fight back to life:
The hardest battles are the ones no one can see.
Behind the medals and the cameras is a fight that never fully ended. Victoria has spoken openly about the years she spent numbing pain instead of feeling it — and the ongoing work of protecting her own mental health after everything her body has carried.
She lives, in her words, at the pace of a head that spins. Red light therapy gives her a handful of minutes that are completely hers. A moment to be still, to gather herself, and to reset before the day asks everything of her again.
7 reasons Victoria reaches for red light.
After everything her body has carried, her routine is intentional. These are the reasons red light therapy earned a permanent place in it.
To be still
The biggest one. Victoria lives at a pace that, in her words, makes her head spin. Red light gives her a few minutes that are completely hers — no phone, no cameras, no demands. A moment to stop, breathe, and gather herself.
To start the day grounded
Her morning Beam session is the anchor of her routine — a calm, consistent ritual that sets the tone before the climb of the day begins, rather than reacting to whatever lands first.
To support recovery in her body
A decade of physical fight leaves its mark. She uses red light on tired, hard-working muscles and joints as part of how she keeps moving — because she doesn't like to sit now that she can stand.
To protect her sleep
A warm, screen-free wind-down helps her step out of "always on" mode at night. Trading blue light for red in the evening is a small ritual that helps her rest actually feel like rest.
To care for her skin
Long days under studio lights and constant travel are hard on skin. The Glow Mask is her go-to for calm, even, camera-ready skin without piling on more product.
To keep the ritual on the road
Between speaking events, ESPN, and appearances, she's rarely home. The Spark travels with her so the reset doesn't get left behind in a hotel room — consistency matters more than perfection.
To feel like herself before the camera
A few minutes with the Sculpt before makeup is her pre-camera cue — a small, intentional moment that helps her walk on set feeling ready, centered, and like herself.
Victoria's experience is her own. Red light therapy is a wellness practice, not a treatment or cure for any medical condition, and individual results vary.
"My faith allows me to be still — to know I'm being guided, one step at a time. In a life that nine times out of ten makes my head spin, that stillness is everything."— Victoria Arlen
She wrote a bucket list instead of an obituary — then spent her life checking off every line.
Locked In
It started at eleven. Over a span of months, two rare conditions — transverse myelitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis — stripped away her ability to speak, eat, walk, and move. She slipped into what looked like a vegetative state. Doctors wrote her off as a lost cause and told her family recovery was unlikely.
But she was still in there. For nearly four years Victoria was fully conscious — hearing every conversation, feeling everything, including strangers who spoke about her chances as if she couldn't understand. She just had no way to answer back.
The First Blink
After almost four years, a change in medication eased her seizures and gave her a single thread back to the world: she began to communicate through eye blinks. From there, the near-impossible climb — relearning how to speak, how to eat, how to move her upper body — even as she remained paralyzed from the waist down.
Her brothers carried her back to a pool long before she could walk. Swimming was the one place that still felt like hers.
Gold
Just over a year after returning to the water, at seventeen, Victoria set world records at the U.S. trials and made Team USA. In London she won four Paralympic medals — one gold, three silver — racing a body that had been written off entirely.
Standing Again
She joined ESPN at twenty, one of the youngest on-air talents the network had ever hired. Then, in 2016, after roughly a decade in a wheelchair, she taught herself to walk again — one step at a time. "It took me ten years to get back," she's said. "I don't like to sit now that I can stand."
Keep Climbing
Author of the 2018 memoir Locked In, with her second book The View Is Worth It arriving in 2026. ESPN host. CEO. Special Olympics Global Ambassador. Founder and Co-Chair of her own foundation. One of the most sought-after speakers in the world — carrying a single message everywhere she goes: the struggle won't last forever, and the view from the top is worth the climb.
She danced into the final five — without feeling her legs.
A year and a half after taking her first steps, Victoria walked onto the Season 25 stage paired with two-time champion Val Chmerkovskiy. They called themselves Team ViVa. What the judges didn't know watching her cha-cha through the premiere: she had no sensation in her legs and significant lasting deficits. Every routine was built on repetition, trust, and a strong frame she handed to Val.
Each dance told a piece of her story. Their Quickstep was set to "Tubthumping" — I get knocked down, but I get up again — the song she'd played on a loop while being bullied as the new girl in the wheelchair in high school. Carrie Ann Inaba called her debut one of the most joyous performances she'd ever seen on the show.
"Heroes in real life don't wear masks and capes. Sometimes they don't stand out at all. But real heroes can save a life — or many lives — just by answering the call in their heart. In the darkest period of my life, when I couldn't help myself, my heroes were there. Sometimes we just need someone to lean over and whisper, 'You can do it.'"— Victoria Arlen
100% of proceeds support Victoria's Victory Foundation.
Founded and co-chaired by Victoria alongside her mother Jacqueline, the foundation helps children and adults with mobility challenges achieve their own personal victory — and has provided over a million dollars in support. When you shop her favorites, you fuel that work.
Learn About The FoundationThe tools behind her reset.
The exact products Victoria reaches for — at home, on the road, and before the camera.
Valo Beam
Glow Mask
Valo Spark
