Amy Purdy’s autobiographical account is one of the most inspiring books I’ve read in a long time. She is a very nice young woman that you want to root for. She acquired bacterial meningitis at the age of 19 and very nearly died. One of the most traumatic incidents was when, after waking her from a prolonged medically-induced coma, they removed her breathing tube. Her longs were very weak and she painfully struggled to get enough air. Every breath was agony for almost 24 hours when her lungs had recovered enough But she had no choice but to go through it because if they put her back on the breathing machine she might have never gotten off of it. After fighting her way back she unfortunately lost both lower legs and also her kidney function. She had to get a transplant, with her Dad as the donor.
She went on to achieve great things in the aftermath. From painfully struggling to stand initially on her prosthetic legs, she went on to being an active athlete, including a pioneering adaptive snowboarder (dreaming of getting back to snowboarding was one of the things that kept her going during rehab). With her husband Daniel she founded the nonprofit Adaptive Action Sports which has helped many people with disabilities stay active. That organization was also instrumental in getting snowboarding accepted as a Paralympic sport starting in Sochi in 2014, where Amy won a bronze medal. She also did amazingly well on Dancing With The Stars, making it through the whole show and finishing second.
I also highly recommend Amy’s Ted Talk from 2011 here. Amy’s story makes me want to push back against what I think of as my limitations, which are put in perspective when compared to what she has overcome.
Original source: https://bionicoldguy.home.blog/2026/09/11/amy-purdys-inspirational-book/