Amy Purdy was born in November 1979 in the United States. To 19 years the girl’s life was no different from the lives of her peers. Dancing, sports, dreams about the beauty Queen’s crown.
One day she felt unwell, it seemed that the girl was sick with the flu. Through the day it was rushed to the hospital in septic shock. On the way to the hospital she developed DIC and was denied multiple organs.
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At the hospital Amy is diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. She has a splenectomy, 32 blood transfusions, three weeks in an induced coma, amputation of both legs below the knee and just a week after 21st birthday – a kidney transplant from his father.
Amy Purdy in the hospital
– Most people celebrate their twenty-first birthday with alcohol, I was drinking a cocktail of morphine and immunosuppressants. But I can’t complain, it was the best gift for the birthday that you could wish for, – to tell it about this period of life.
Friends later give her the nickname Lucky (Happy). Doctors gave only two out of a hundred chance that she will survive. Then no one would have thought that Amy will not only survive but will become a world-renowned dancer, model, winner of Paralympic games and example for thousands of people around the world.
– I promised never to feel sorry for yourself. Photo: amy-purdy.blogspot.ru
Three promises to myself
– The night before the amputation of feet I promised myself three things.
First – never feel sorry for myself. Everything around me was so sad and so sorry I was awful to feel so vulnerable and powerless. I had to consciously forbid myself to slide into this black hole that inevitably would lead to depression and would not allow me to become what I became. So I promised that I will never regret myself, and still is true to its word.
Second – make sure to get back to snowboarding – even if I have to go to NASA and demand to build me a supersonic bionic legs.
Thirdly, I promised one day to help other people. I’ve always been a philanthropist. In my childhood I was sent all the collected money to the organization “save the planet”, at other times sheltered a lost mother bear and wanted to save all the whales and the rainforest. Therefore, the desire to help others came to me naturally. One night I even saw standing in front of a crowd of people, talk about their experiences and help people believe in themselves.
– I wanted to return to snowboarding – even if I have to go to NASA and demand to build me a supersonic bionic legs. Photo: teamusa.org.
I didn’t can to walk again – was only thinking about snowboarding
Amy started to fulfill their promises immediately after discharge. The doctors were not sure that she will be able to walk again, and she is only four months after receipt of the first prosthesis stood up to them on a snowboard.
Amy began snowboarding at the age of 15 and could not imagine my life without this sport.
– I instantly fell in love with him. I knew it was what I was going to do for the rest of his life.
According to her, the desire to return to a favorite sport helped me overcome a difficult time.
– I knew that snowboarding is what I will do for the rest of his life. Photo: Doug Pensinger / Getty
– First of all I was grateful to still be alive. But I had to ask myself: “What am I going to do? What can I do in my situation?” I didn’t even think whether to walk again, I was only thinking about snowboarding. I set high goals, I again wanted to ride. I thought that once again going to compete, I just wanted to be there, in the snow, with my friends. It was a huge part of my life – she said about this period.
– I just wanted to be there, in the snow, with my friends. It was a huge part of my life. Photo: Getty Images.
– Focusing on it, I quickly learned to walk and soon were again able to compete. It was not easy, and I had to understand many things. I had to make myself new legs, using parts of others and putting them together so I could ride.
Just three months after kidney transplantation Amy took part in his first competitions in adaptive snowboarding and took third place.
At 24, Amy founded her own non-profit organization “Adaptive fitness” for individuals with disabilities who want to engage in active sports (snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing).
When she turned 30, para-snowboarding was included in the program of the Paralympic games. I do not think this of professional sports, Amy decided to conquer and this vertex. In 2014 she brought back from the Sochi bronze medal, and in 2018 won silver.
Training Amy Purdy
Watching Amy dance, we forget her disability
At the same time to his sports career, Amy has evolved as a model and dancer. During the Paralympics in Sochi after a day of training it was time for night rehearsals – the girl was preparing to participate in the new season of the dance show Dancing With The Stars (“dancing with the stars”).
Just three days after receiving the bronze medal in para-snowboarding she has already participated in the opening of the show in Hollywood with his partner Derek Hugh. Amy was the first contestant that danced on prostheses and competed on equal terms with others. The girl was not any concessions – it did not prevent her pair to take second place in the competition.
– Watching Amy dance, we forget her disability. Seems wrong to use that word against her, wrote about her performance on the show in the Washington Post.
According to the materials of the official website of Amy Purdy, Huffington Post, Washington Post, Element Eden