Audio of Donna Vano at growingbolder.com

Posted on February 27th, 2010 at 6:07 am

She is the queen of extreme -- a pioneer in snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing and skiing.

Donna Vano is an action sports legend, a two-time cancer survivor, and a grandmother who still competes on top of it all.

The 56-year-old currently holds three Guinness World Records – she's the oldest inline vert skater in the world; she holds the most gold medals in U.S. Snowboarding Association in all five disciplines; and she's the oldest female amateur snowboarder competing in pro tours in the Super Pipe.

She recently won all nine events in the 50-59 age group at the U.S. Snowboard National Championships.

Donna says she started skateboarding before skateboards were even invented, so made her own board out of a pair of roller skates.

She has pioneered female surfing, skateboarding and blading, but her achievements haven't come without injuries. She's had 8 broken arms, blew her ACL, has a plate in her arm, three metal rods in her tibia/fibula and she badly injured her shoulder while training some young skateboarders.

And she's a two-time ovarian cancer survivor.

Donna is a force of life. She designs hand-crocheted beanies, with a percentage of all profits going to cancer research. She also hangs with some of the biggest extreme sports stars on Earth, including Tony Hawk and Shaun White.

Click here to keep up with her adventures on her blog.