The New York Times Sports department is revisiting the subjects of some compelling articles from the last year or so. Here is our March report on Morgan Stickney’s first recovery.

Something awful happened to Morgan Stickney on her way to joining the world of Paralympic swimming.

Stickney had been a young distance swimmer with dreams of Olympic glory until a foot ailment forced her to have her left leg amputated below the knee in May 2018, when she was only 20. But with an unyielding determination that has become her trademark, Stickney made the best of her situation: As The New York Times wrote in March, the amputation meant an end to five years of severe foot pain and dependence on opioid painkillers, and it enabled her to get back into the pool.

Within a few months, Stickney set remarkable times in the 100- and 400-meter freestyle and was invited to train at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. A new dream formed for Stickney, as a Paralympian in Tokyo next summer.

But then one day after training, she felt pain in her right foot. X-rays revealed fractures, and doctors said they would heal. Stickney dreaded something much worse, however.