Amy Purdy

Amy Purdy was born on November 7, 1979, in Las Vegas, Nevada. At 19, she contracted bacterial meningitis, leading to septic shock. This resulted in the amputation of both her legs below the knee, the loss of both kidneys, hearing in her left ear, and the removal of her spleen. Doctors initially gave her a 2% chance of survival. Two years later, she received a kidney transplant from her father.

Seven months after receiving her prosthetic legs, Purdy resumed snowboarding. Within a year, she achieved a third-place finish in a snowboarding competition at Mammoth Mountain. In 2003, she became a spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) and an “Amputee Advocate” for Freedom Innovations, a prosthetic feet manufacturer. She also explored modeling and acting, appearing in a Madonna music video in 2003 and making her film debut in ‘What’s Bugging Seth’ in 2005. Collaborating with her husband, Daniel Gale, Purdy co-founded Adaptive Action Sports (AAS), a non-profit dedicated to providing individuals with physical disabilities opportunities in action sports, art, and music. AAS played a significant role in getting adaptive events included in both the summer and winter X Games.

Purdy’s efforts were instrumental in the inclusion of Para snowboarding at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, where she earned a bronze medal in snowboard-cross, becoming the first U.S. Paralympian to medal in the sport. She continued her athletic career, securing a bronze in banked slalom at the 2017 World Championships and two medals (silver in snowboard-cross, bronze in banked slalom) at the Pyeongchang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. Beyond sports, Purdy appeared on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2014, finishing as a runner-up, and published her New York Times best-selling memoir, “On My Own Two Feet: From Losing My Legs To Learning The Dance Of Life” in 2014. She officially retired from competitive sports in March 2022, continuing her work as a motivational speaker and advocate.