Amy Purdy
We did everything we could to save my legs, and it just came to a point where if we didn't amputate my legs, I wouldn't survive. In that situation, you kind of go into survival mode, and you find strength.Collection: Strength
I was in kidney failure. I ended up having a kidney transplant on my 21st birthday.Collection: Birthday
I've never wanted sympathy votes in anything I do in my life.Collection: Sympathy
I don't want to see myself as this sad, disabled girl. I know that. I don't want other people to see me as that, either.Collection: Sad
I got this second chance at life, and I live it.Collection: Chance
When you are truly you and share who you are with the world and be confident in who you are, it doesn't matter what size you are. It doesn't matter what your different body parts look like.
For me, I just began, eventually, to embrace what I had. This is what I have to deal with and, not just deal with, but this is what I have to share, and how can I do that the best way.
It was challenging. It was never easy for me. My life changed suddenly, and I lost my health. I lost the body that I knew.
I'm really motivated by music, and I love dancing, even if it's just by myself in my room or if it's going out with my friends.
My dad had given my sister and I our starter car, a red, old 1985 Chevy Blazer. It was so beat up, the taillights would fall off, and we would use red duct tape.
When I turned 16 and got my license, the Chevy Blazer was passed down from my sister, so it was very much a starter car.
A lot of times, people think 'para' as far as 'paralyzed.' 'Para' means 'alongside,' so the Paralympics are alongside the Olympics on the same courses, the same hills.
Road trips to me are just such an escape. You listen to your music, and you roll the windows down. You're usually going to somewhere fun.
That's really what the Paralympics is about: these amazing athletes and this technology that's allowing them to reach their full potential.
We've all seen that every challenge we've gone through, we've learned something from. It's not getting hung up on the challenges but figuring out how to get ahead.
I have two prosthetic legs. This is my life; what am I going to do with it? And it's put me on this amazing journey. I can look back and be completely grateful and say I would never want to change anything.
I'm a big oatmeal fan. For my every-morning breakfast, I will do oatmeal with cinnamon, goat's milk or even butter, with apples and raisins, and then I'll maybe do some eggs, say two poached eggs with that.
Of course, I was 19 years old, and I suddenly lost my legs. It was extremely traumatic at the time, but I'm so beyond that. I've done so much with my life.
I grew up born and raised in Las Vegas and actually grew up skiing. You know, we've got some ski resorts close to Las Vegas, up in Mount Charleston or Brian Head, so I grew up skiing and snowboarding.
I've always been driven, and I like the creative aspect of figuring things out.
I'm one of those people who doesn't want to miss out on anything.
If you believe that you can't do something, then you're not going to do it. If you believe you can, and you're willing to put in the effort and figure out a way to do it, then the majority of the time, you can.
I was on my death bed, and I remember hanging on to these words, 'Don't be scared. You are going to live an amazing life,' and I have.
I'm learning how strong I am, how resilient I am. I'm learning my weaknesses.
I always felt really lucky that I only lost my legs, because it could've been so much worse.
I made a choice before I lost my legs that I was going to live the best life possible and that I wasn't going to let this slow me down - and that choice has kept me moving forward.
My spleen burst. I remember feeling my heart beating really fast. Beating right out of my chest.
All through high school, I was incredibly healthy. I loved the outdoors, and I loved snowboarding because of the freedom.
There are no rules in snowboarding.
I guess I'm always up for a challenge.
Dancers know how to move their arms and their hands. But I don't know the first thing about how to move my arms and hands gracefully.
I've always made the choice to do everything to my fullest potential.
My dad gave me life twice. I thank him by using the strong body I now have.
For me, a bad day is when I have nothing going on.
I like moving, challenging myself.
Taking off your clothes is one thing. Taking off your clothes and your legs is an entirely different matter.
I'm an athlete, yes, but I'm also a woman. I'm someone who kind of, in a way, lost touch with that part of myself after I lost my legs, because there are certain feminine traits you lose when you have prosthetic legs.
To be able to walk down the street and have people stop you, not just because they recognize you, but because you somehow personally touched them, it's amazing.
You can't even imagine the feeling you get when someone tells you that you are about to lose your legs.
After I lost my legs, I got invited to my old high school, and I shared my stories with all the classes. I remember I was so nervous and didn't know where to start, but I knew I had information they could take away.
You don't always have to have the most amazing story. It's learning to share the story you have that counts.
What's cool is that Oprah is the same person on stage and in front of a camera as she is off stage and behind the scenes. She speaks the same way on camera as she does off camera.
I knew what I didn't want. I didn't want people to feel sorry for me. I didn't want people to see me as disabled. I wanted to live a life of adventure and stories.
The human foot has bones and muscles and can balance back and forth. If you step and you maybe make a little mistake, your foot can compensate. But if I step in the wrong spot, my foot isn't going to compensate because it's just one piece of carbon fiber.
I love the smell of rain, and I love the sound of the ocean waves.
If your life were a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go? That's the question that changed my life forever.
We all have challenges. You can let them be obstacles or roadblocks, or you can use them.
That's the problem with bacterial meningitis: it progresses really fast. You think you have the flu, and they say within 15 hours it's severely deadly - for sure within the first 24 hours - but even the first 15 hours.
Just because I've got two prosthetic legs, yeah, I had to adapt in ways, but I've also become a lot stronger. It doesn't mean I'm at any disadvantage, really.
If you want something bad enough and you work hard enough, anything's possible.