Acceptance was the first step in snowboarder Amy Purdy's inspiring journey that started when she lost both of her legs to bacterial meningitis 15 years ago.
With doctors only giving her a mere two percent chance of survival, Purdy recounted the challenges that she had to go through not just in fighting for her life but in losing both her legs to the disease.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in her Super Soul Sunday special, the snowboarding champ shared that she had experienced respiratory and organ failure, countless blood transfusions, surgeries and even lost her spleen.
"I was so unstable, and my mum felt that I was—I was hanging on by a thread. The doctors were outside the door debating on who was going to tell my parents it was time to pull the plug," Amy said. "I mean, I was barely hanging on. And my mum felt that even the slightest bit of negative energy, even a thought of death, would be enough and I would leave."
That was why, during that time, her mother imposed one rule for anyone visiting her. Only enter with positive energy.
After her ordeal, Purdy said that there came a moment where she truly understood that acceptance was the only way she could move forward and continue with her life.
"That kind of prompted me to ask myself this question: 'If my life was a book and I was the author, how would I want this story to go? 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. I want to see myself walking again, gracefully. And I wanted to see myself somehow sharing, somehow helping other people through this journey," she shared.
Purdy stuck to her guns and with strength and determination, worked hard to become the person she envisioned. Since then, she has not just walked, but also joined celebrity dancing competition "Dancing with the Stars."
Her dream of snowboarding again did not just come true. In 2014, she won a bronze medal in the Winter Paralympics.
"I saw myself snowboarding again. I had visualised it so strongly in that moment that I didn't just see myself carving down this mountain of powder. I could feel it," she says. "I could feel the wind against my face. I could feel the beat of my racing heart. I could feel my muscles twitching as if it was happening in that very moment. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew that I was going to do it."
