Amy Purdy: Inspirational Paralympian
Inspirational keynote speaker and Paralympic medalist Amy Purdy empowers audiences with resilience, adaptability, and bold reinvention after surviving meningitis and losing both legs.
Quick Facts:
- Highlights:
- 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist in adaptive snowboarding
- Survivor of meningococcal meningitis and double-leg amputee
- Finalist on Dancing With The Stars
- Competitor on The Amazing Race
- Formats: Inspirational Keynote Speaker on Resilience, Adaptability, and Reinvention
- Audiences: Corporate leadership teams, healthcare organizations, women’s conferences, athletic organizations, educators, and companies navigating change and transformation.
- Outcomes:
- Renewed resilience and perspective during adversity
- Courage to embrace reinvention and uncertainty
- Practical mindset shifts to overcome perceived limitations
- Travels from: Denver, CO
- **Fee range: $50,001 - $75,000
Talent Services
Keynote Topics:
Living Beyond Limits
Borders and obstacles can only do two things: stop us in our tracks; or force us to get creative… innovation has only been possible because of my borders.
On My Own Two Feet
From Losing My Legs to Learning the Dance of Life
Based on her book of the same name. Amy encourages us to take control of our lives, and our limits. The world fell in love with Amy as the incredible girl with bionic legs who managed to out-dance her competitors all the way to the season 18 finale of Dancing with the Stars.
She reveals the powerful, moving story of her personal spiritual awakening as a result of a sudden and often fatal blood infection that caused her to lose both of her legs.
Despite her grim prognosis, she was determined to not just beat the odds and walk again but to create a life filled with bold adventures, big dreams, and boundless vitality — and share that spirit with the world.
Amy seized her second chance at life and earned a bronze medal in adaptive snowboarding at the 2014 Paralympic Games.
Her story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity we all have to defy expectations and rewrite our own stories.
Talent Short Bio
Amy Purdy is a world-class adaptive snowboarder, Paralympic bronze medalist, bestselling author, and globally recognized motivational keynote speaker whose life story redefines resilience and possibility.
At 19, Amy was rushed to the hospital in septic shock after developing meningococcal meningitis. Given less than a 2 percent chance of survival, she was placed on life support and into a coma. The infection led to respiratory and multiple organ failure, and doctors were forced to amputate both of her legs below the knee. Shortly before her 21st birthday, she received a life-saving kidney transplant from her father.
Rather than allowing tragedy to define her future, Amy chose reinvention. Just three months after her kidney transplant, she competed in the USASA National Snowboarding Championship, winning medals in three events. She went on to become one of the top ranked adaptive snowboarders in the world and earned a bronze medal at the 2014 Paralympic Games. She remains the only double-leg amputee competing at a world-class snowboarding level.
Read Full Bio
At 19, after experiencing flu-like symptoms, Amy Purdy was rushed to the hospital in a state of septic shock. En route, she experienced respiratory and multiple organ failure, which caused her to lose circulation to her extremities.
When she entered into the hospital she was given less than a 2% chance of survival, put on life support and placed into a coma. After multiple blood transfusions, and the removal of her ruptured spleen, doctors diagnosed Amy with Meningococcal Meningitis, a vaccine preventable bacterial infection.
Due to the lack of circulation she had suffered, doctors had to amputate her legs below the knee. She later received a donated kidney from her father a week before her 21st birthday. After going through this life-altering experience, Amy Purdy challenged herself to move on with her life and attain goals that even those who have both legs struggle to achieve.
Just three months after her kidney transplant, Amy entered the USASA National Snowboarding Championship where she won medals in three events. Today, she is one of the top ranked adaptive snowboarders in the world, and was the 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist.
She is the only double-leg amputee competing at the world-class level. Amy’s creativity, positive outlook and her never-give-up attitude have opened doors to many other opportunities, including being featured in a Madonna music video, a lead actress role in an award-winning independent film and multiple creative modeling projects including a photo shoot with musician and artist Nikki Sixx where her legs were custom made from steel to look like ice picks.
Amy Purdy has evolved into a powerful inspirational and motivational speaker who has literally been seen by millions of people and invited to share her story to audiences around the world.
Her TED speech has been viewed over 1.4 million times and translated into multiple languages. Amy’s story and images have been featured in numerous national and international publications, and in 2012 she and her longtime boyfriend, Daniel Gale, raced around the world on CBS’s The Amazing Race.
She is the only double-leg amputee competing at the elite world-class level.
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