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In this episode Amy Purdy (who became a household name when she made it to the finals of Dancing With The Stars – having had both legs amputated!) shares her life and relentless focus on overcoming every obstacle that allowed her to become an Olympic athlete – giving us an inside glimpse of how to never say never – no matter what!
About Amy:
Amy Purdy is an American actress, model, para-snowboarder, motivational speaker, clothing designer, and author. Purdy is a 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist, 2018 Paralympics silver medalist, and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports. Purdy was born in Las Vegas in 1979. When she was 19 years old, she contracted Neisseria meningitidis, a form of bacterial meningitis. The disease affected her circulatory system when the infection led to septic shock; both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee, she lost both kidneys, and her spleen had to be removed. Doctors gave Purdy a 2% chance of survival. Two years later, she received a kidney transplant from her father. Purdy began snowboarding seven months after she received her prosthetic legs. About a year after her legs were amputated, she finished third in a snowboarding competition at Mammoth Mountain. Subsequently, she received a grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), a non-profit organization. Through this grant, she was able to compete in several snowboarding competitions in the U.S. In 2003, Purdy was recruited by the CAF as spokesperson, and she moved to San Diego to be closer to the CAF headquarters. In San Diego, she continued her pre-amputee profession as a massage therapist. She also became involved in the modeling and acting industry. In February 2003, she played a model in a Madonna music video.[1] Later in 2003, Purdy started working for Freedom Innovations, a prosthetic feet manufacturer, as its “Amputee Advocate”. She has gone on to co-found her own non-profit organization, Adaptive Action Sports, a chapter of Disabled Sports USA for individuals with physical disabilities who want to get involved in action sports (snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing) or art and music. In 2005, Purdy made her film debut in What’s Bugging Seth, a movie by Eli Steele. She was named one of ESPNW’s Impact 25 in 2014, and one of Oprah’s SuperSoul 100 visionaries and influential leaders in 2016.
