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\"She morphed into this incredible athlete,\" said Alicia Jordan. \"[My husband and I] transferred our energy from keeping her alive to letting her live the best life possible.\"

Jordan has gone on to compete in more than two dozen cycling races, winning gold and silver medals and setting personal records along the way.

The same condition that for so long kept her bedridden is now an asset to Jordan as a competitive cyclist in a way that has astounded medical experts, according to Harbison.

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A post shared by Hannah Jordan (@hannahjordancyclist) on Jun 10, 2019 at 6:28pm PDT

\"For her, there is some difference in the way her muscle metabolizes energy that allows her to do this, especially since one of her specialties is hill climbing,\" she said of Jordan. \"Exercise is her fuel, essentially, that allows her to be closer to normal.\"

\"What it is about exercise that has woken her brain up, and how she thrives in it, is what’s so curious to me,\" Harbison added. \"She’s the only child I've seen who’s had this extreme lethargy that was improved by exercise.\"

\"PHOTO:
Alicia Jordan
PHOTO: Hannah Jordan, 18, wears a G-tube in a backpack while cycling.
>

Jordan's life has changed off the bike, too. With her improved energy she has been able to attend school and is doing an internship at Kate Farms, the maker of the plant-based formula she now uses in her G-tube.

\"I call cycling my mental sanity,\" she said. \"It’s definitely helped me just be able to live my life and feel like a normal human being and has been a doorway to many paths.\"

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officially cleared Jordan to compete last spring at any level after ruling that her G-tube does not give her an advantage over athletes.

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A post shared by Hannah Jordan (@hannahjordancyclist) on Mar 5, 2019 at 10:32am PST

The Hillclimb Worlds will be Jordan's first world championship race -- her first of many, she hopes.

\"I knew ever since I was 8 years old that I couldn’t just have a 9-to-5 life and I wanted to change the world, even though I was sick,\" she said. \"I knew I wanted to do something great, but didn’t know what it looked like until I found cycling.\"

\"What I love about cycling is that it doesn’t stick anyone in the box,\" Jordan added. \"You can do whatever you want and decide how fast you want to go and how far you want to go.\"

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