From Near-Death Experience to Paralympic Medallist: Amy Purdy's Unbreakable Spirit
Amy Purdy's life took an unexpected turn at just 19 years old. She had moved to Salt Lake City to pursue her dream of becoming a professional snowboarder, but one evening she returned home feeling unwell.
Within 24 hours, she was on life support with a diagnosis of meningococcal meningitis, a rare bacterial blood infection that sent her body into septic shock. Doctors gave her just a 2% chance of survival, but she managed to recover, albeit losing both legs below the knees.
The hardest moment for Amy wasn't waking up after surgery; it was seeing her prosthetic legs for the first time, 'They looked like pipes from the Home Depot,' she recalled. She felt physically and emotionally broken, wondering how she would travel, have fun adventures, or snowboard again.
Amy's resilience kicked in when she asked herself, 'If my life was a book and I was the author of that book, how would I want that story to go?' She decided not to waste her second chance at life and started getting back on a snowboard just three months after a kidney transplant.
Amy's determination led her to become one of Team USA's most decorated Paralympic snowboarders. She won bronze in 2014, silver and another bronze in 2018, and even stepped onto the 'Dancing with the Stars' show despite never having danced before.