- I'm dying, I'm dying.
I know I am.
I have to get to the hospital right now.
I started to realize that there
was something really, really wrong.
My heart was beating out of my chest.
I was so shaky, I was so weak.
And I realized that I couldn't feel my feet.
When I glanced to the floor, I saw that my feet were purple.
And when I glanced at my hands,
I saw that my hands were purple.
And when I looked at my reflection in the mirror,
I saws that my nose, my chin,
and my cheeks were purple as well.
I was dying and I knew it.
I immediately began to panic.
My heart was beating out of my chest.
I was seeing tunnel vision.
I was sicker than I could ever explain.
As I lay in a coma, the doctors diagnosed me
with something called meningococcal meningitis,
which is a vaccine preventable blood infection.
I was given less than a 2% chance of living
and immediately put on life support.
We have no idea how I got it,
so for all I know somebody could have sneezed on me
when I was in the elevator at work
and maybe that's how I got it.
But due to this little microscopic bacteria,
over the course of two and a half months
I ended up losing my spleen, I lost my kidney function,
I lost the hearing in my left ear,
and due to the septic shock that my body went into
I ended losing both of my legs below the knees.
My life changed like that.
I went from being a normal 19 year old
without a care in the world.
To now relying on machines, mechanics and medical innovation
in order to live, in order to even survive.
And I though the worst was over.
That is, until I saw my new legs for the very first time.
They were these bulky blocks of metal
with pipes bolted together for the ankles.
I don't know who designed these feet, you know,
they try to make 'em look real
but they look like they were straight out
of the plumbing department of home depot. (laughs)
They were hideous.
And with my mom by my side,
and just tears streaming down our faces,
I strapped on these chunky legs and I stood up.
I was absolutely physically and emotionally broken.
The thought of living the rest of my life
with these hunks of hardware as my legs
was depressing and overwhelming.
And little did I know at that time
that my biggest loss, my legs,
would eventually become my biggest asset.
But I think as soon as I got so sick and tired,
of being sick and tired, I knew that in order
to move forward with my life,
I had to somehow learn how to let go of the old Amy.
And somehow learn to embrace the new Amy.
And that is when it dawned on me,
that the old Amy,
I don't know is maybe five foot five,
but the new Amy she could be six foot tall!
I could be as tall as I wanted (laughs)
or I could be as short as I wanted,
depending on who I was dating at the time. (laughs)
It was times like these that first prompted me
to ask myself, "If my life were a book,
"and I was the author of that book,
"how would I want this story to go?"
I saw myself walking gracefully.
And I saw myself somehow helping other people
through my journey.
And I saw myself snowboarding again.
And I didn't just see myself carving down this mountain
of powder, I visualized it so strongly,
that I could actually feel it.
I could feel the wind against my face,
and the beat of my racing heart.
As if it was happening in that very moment.
And that passion, and that fire that I felt inside,
that is when a new chapter of my life began.
I was back up on a snowboard four months
after losing my legs.
Although, things didn't go quite as expected.
I hit this bump, completely out of control,
and I fell, and my goggles went one way,
and my beanie went the other way,
and my legs, still attached to my snowboard
went flying down the mountain (laughs)
and meanwhile I was still sitting
up on top of the mountain, completely embarrassed.
I wasn't expecting that at all,
and actually I heard a lady scream from the chairlift
(audience laughs)
which I'm sure she racked up years of therapy bills.
(audience laughs)
Anyways, I remember I was just so discouraged,
you know and I could have easily thought,
"Well this is impossible, I obviously can't snowboard
"with two prosthetic legs."
but I thought, "If I could figure out a way
"to get my legs to move in the way that I need them to,
"and if I can figure out a way to keep these
"detachable body parts attached to my body,
"then I would be able to do this again."
And that's when I learned that the obstacles
and the challenges in our lives can only do two things.
One, stop us dead in our tracks.
Or two, force us to get creative.
So I decided to make a pair myself.
My leg maker and I, we put random parts together
and we made a pair of feet that I could snowboard in.
And believe it or not,
these babies actually worked like a charm.
But it was these legs and the best 21st birthday gift
that I could ever receive, a new kidney,
from my dad, that allowed me to follow my dreams.
And to snowboard again.
And then I went on to be the first ever
female to win a bronze medal in paralympic snowboarding.
(audience applauds)
Thank you.
I learned that it's that change,
and it's that challenge that forces us
to figure out what we're really made of.
It makes us dig deep,
it makes us find our fire.
And it makes us get creative.
Because that's the only way to reach beyond
the reality of this current moment.
Is by accepting what is,
but most importantly daydreaming of what could be.
If you asked me today if I would
ever want to change my situation,
I would tell you guys no.
Because my legs haven't disabled me.
If anything, they've enabled me.
They've forced me to rely on my imagination,
and to believe in the possibilities.
And that's why I believe that our imaginations
are huge tools for breaking through
all the borders in our lives,
because in our minds we can do anything.
And we can be anything.
It's believing in our dreams and facing our fears head on,
that allows us to lives our lives beyond our limits.
(gentle music)