Amy Purdy
Benefitting Adaptive Action Sports
Amy Purdy chose to be here. After losing both her legs below the knee at 19 to a form of bacterial meningitis, doctors gave her a 2% chance of survival. A year later she finished third in a snowboarding competition on Mammoth mountain. Amy went on to become one of the top Paralympic snowboarders in the world, competing on Dancing with the Stars, touring with Oprah Winfrey, starting a foundation, and writing a New York Times best-selling book. But after another life-threatening setback, Amy once again found herself knocking down doors to get the help she needed and in doing so, has inspired people everywhere to push through obstacles and make dreams happen.
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Wise Words
“So I scooted to the edge of the bed and I put my feet on the floor and I stood up and I realized that I couldn’t feel my feet. And when I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I saw that my nose was purple, I saw that my chin was purple. I saw that my cheeks were purple. I glanced at my hands, I saw that my hands were purple. And in that moment, I knew that I was dying.”
“I fought for my life, I ended up losing both of my legs below the knees.”
“He was talking to me and a few minutes after I started massaging him, he asked me a question, and he said, “Amy, have you crossed over yet?” And I said, “I don’t know, but I know what you mean.”
“He said, “When this happens, when you cross over, don’t be scared. You’re going to go on to do amazing things with your life.” That chokes me up. He said, “You’re going to go on to do amazing things with your life.”
“And so three weeks later when I was in the emergency room and the doctors were panicking and freaking out saying that I was going into cardiac arrest and that I needed to be on life support, I actually heard the nurse call my parents and say, “We don’t know what she has, but she’s got maybe two hours left to live we’re giving her less than a 2% chance of living,” because I was in massive septic shock at that point. And I remember thinking, “No, I’m not going to die. This is exactly what this man was talking about, that I’m going to go on and do amazing things with my life.” And I did.”
“Even though I was in a coma, even though I was fully sedated, I remember being in that surgery, but I thought I was in heart surgery because I could feel my heart beating so fast and I could hear my doctor next to me talking to me. And I remember at one point he said, “Whatever it is you believe in Amy, think about that right now.” And I remember just thinking, “I believe in love.” I believe in love. That makes the world go round, that creates everything. I believe in love.”
“And then all of a sudden I felt my last heartbeat and it took my breath away and I suddenly found myself in this space and I knew what happened, I had died, I had flat lined.”
“And I found myself in this space and I saw these three silhouettes in front of me, and I couldn’t recognize them, but I could see their hands moving in this come here motion. And they were saying to me, “You can come with us or you can go.” And I got so mad and frustrated and I thought, “No.” Every bit of energy in my body. I was like, “No, I’m not going anywhere.” And I thought, “I haven’t even lived my life yet, I’m 19 years old. I haven’t fallen in love yet. I haven’t done the things I want to do yet.” And I started to think about the things that I love about life. And I thought about the smell of a campfire, I thought about the sound of ocean waves, and I thought about the taste of hose water when you’re a kid. And I thought, “No, I can’t let this go. I’m not ready to go. These are the things I love about life.”
“So I gave myself these three goals. And I think I put these into place because I needed something to pull me through and the first goal was that. I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself. That I wasn’t a victim. I refused to be a victim. And I’m not going to act like one. And the second was that, I was going to snowboard that season, because I had never missed a season of snowboarding, and I wasn’t about to. So I’d figure out a way. And then the third was, when I figured all of this out, I wanted to somehow help other people. And just let other people know, that whatever it is they are facing, whatever circumstances they’re facing, that it’s all going to be okay. And it’s all going to make sense in the end. And we can get through this.”
“If I wanted the easy way out, I could have taken the easy way out. But I didn’t. I chose to be here, knowing that life was going to be tough, knowing that I had a lot to face. And so I never felt like a victim. I felt like I chose to take this on. So I’m going to figure this out. And I’ve made a choice to focus on what I can do, versus looking backwards, and seeing what I lost, I decided to focus on what I’ve gained. And it’s just kind of a choice.”
“The obstacles in our lives can only do two things. One, stop us dead in our tracks, or two, force us to get creative.”
“And I tell you, I’ve had these angels come into my life, throughout my life, and I’m so grateful. But a lot of it has come from realizing that I have to be my own advocate. Nobody cares about you, as much as you care about you. Nobody cares about your life as much as you care about your life. So I had to knock down doors to get help, and get support, and just absolutely not give up. And I think I put the same energy into this, that I did Dancing With The Stars. That I did, the Paralympic Games. That I did even when I started speaking and failing, it was like, “I have got to figure this out.” And I am obsessed and laser focused with finding the answer. And luckily, we did.”
“If my life was a book and I was the author, how would I want my story to go?”
“These people who had these beautiful photos and these beautiful travel photos and these beautiful bodies, I wanted nothing to do with it. I was like, “Are you kidding me? This is doing nothing for me.” I actually deleted half of my people that I follow on Instagram. What I wanted to hear is people who went through hell and back. I wanted to hear stories of survival. I wanted to hear stories of how somebody did something and it was a miracle that they healed or survived. That’s the kind of stuff I wanted to hear. And so I decided that I was going to share that part of my journey as well because I know there’s people out there who need to see this too.”
Links
Website: amypurdy.com
Charity: Adaptive Action Sports: adacs.org
Amy’s Book: On My Own Two Feet