Skip To Content
    This post has not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed's editorial staff. BuzzFeed Community is a place where anyone can create a post or quiz. Try making your own!

    Despite Losing Both Legs When She Was 19, Amy Purdy Can Still Dance Better Than You: Here's Her Incredible, Life-Changing Story (Video)

    Amy Purdy stopped by The Ellen Show to share her inspiring story of losing both her legs at the age of 19, and the journey that brought her from pit bottom to representing America in the Paralympics and the winter games. Also, Amy is paired with 5-time champion Derek Hough in latest season of Dancing with the Stars. Watch it here!

    Amy Purdy, 34, is an American competitive snowboarder, actress and model. She won the gold medal in the 2011 New Zealand Winter Games, and also brought home a bronze medal for America during the recent 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games.

    When Amy Purdy was 19, she lost both her legs in an almost fatal incident. Out of nowhere, Amy contacted a virulent form of bacterial meningitis which left her in a septic shock in less than 24 hours of getting sick. Both of her legs had to be amputated below the knee, and she lost both her kidneys and her spleen. Doctors said that she has 2% chance of survival as her sepsis was very advanced.

    It was a miracle that Amy survived the traumatic experience. She went on to get her leg prosthetics, and she dove right back into snowboarding, which is something she absolutely love, after seven months of being on her (new) feet.

    Subsequently, Amy competed in different national and international snowboarding competitions and won several medals. She won three back-to-back World Cup gold medals in snowboard cross, and has since become the top-ranked para-snowboarder in the country and one of America's favorite Paralympians.

    Watch it now: Amy Purdy meets Ellen.

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com / Via youtube.com

    Ellen asks Amy about her story, her journey to recovery and success, and her latest participation in the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars with Derek Hough.

    Watch Amy Purdy and Derek Hough's impressive performance on The Ellen Show.

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com / Via youtube.com

    Amy Purdy and Derek Hough spice things up on Dancing with the Stars Week 7

    View this video on YouTube

    Via youtube.com

    Amy Purdy and Derek Hough executed one helluva amazing Rumba performance on stage on week 7 of the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars.

    Amy Purdy's work in support of disabled athletes.

    Amy is the spokesperson for the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a non-profit organization for athletes with physical challenges, since 2003.

    In 2005, Amy and her partner, Daniel Gale, founded Adaptive Action Sports, which is a non-profit organization that "encourages youth and injured veterans with physical disabilities to pursue their interests in adaptive snowboarding and skateboarding." The organization is a chapter of Disabled Sports USA.

    Watch her thought-provoking TED Talk titled "Living Beyond Limits"

    View this video on YouTube

    youtube.com / Via youtube.com

    Amy Purdy at TEDxOrangeCoast (2011).

    Below are some of the best quotes by Amy:

    "If your life were a book, and you were the author, how would you want your story to go?"

    "Our borders and our obstacles can only do two things: (1) stop us in our tracks, or (2) force us to get creative."

    "Innovation has only been possible because of my borders. I have learned that borders are where the actual ends but also where the imagination and the story begin."

    "Instead of looking at our challenges and limitations as something negative or bad, we can begin to look at them as blessings -- magnificent gifts that can be used to ignite our imaginations, and help us go further than we ever knew we could go."

    "It's not about breaking down borders. It's about pushing off of them, and seeing what amazing places they might bring us."

    Follow Amy's Twitter for more of her updates.