Are you struggling with some aspect of life to the point where you feel unable to move forward? The following truly inspirational story of Amy Purdy could help you get motivated ... the last words of her article are particularly powerful and I, for one, won't forget them in a hurry.
"Amy Purdy had found her passion and was in control of her life. A snowboarder, massage therapist, and artist, she had faced her share of challenges, was making good money, and looked toward a bright future. She knew nothing could get in the way of her success. Only when she lost both legs to illness did she discover how true that was.
Amy Purdy was just 19 when the course of her life took a drastic change. After a day’s illness with what seemed to be the flu, her condition became critical. Her family rushed her to the hospital where they were informed that septic shock had caused respiratory and multiple organ failure.
Purdy remembers the near-death experience. Floating in and out of consciousness, she felt herself slipping away. “I remember thinking ‘Okay, these people are here to save me, but they better do it quickly, they better do it right now, because I’m going. Help me if you’re going to help me.’ I had this feeling that I was trying to hold on, but I was being pulled away.
“I remember feeling my last heartbeat,” Purdy recalls. “I felt it really strong. It took my breath away, and I just got pulled out of my body. Then, suddenly, I was in this space that was just a really comfortable space. I remember thinking: ‘I know what’s going on here.’ I got really mad, like every bit of energy in my body just came out. I remember thinking ‘No! I’m not ready to go!’”
Purdy spent three weeks in a coma, and when she awoke, the struggle began to save her legs, which had lost circulation due to septic shock. Five weeks after she entered the hospital, it was apparent that amputation was necessary. If the doctors waited longer, they would have to amputate higher. Without the surgery, Purdy would die. Doctors amputated Purdy’s legs just below the knees.
Her mother, Sheri Purdy, remembers when her daughter awoke from the surgery. “Amy looked at me, and she asked ‘Are they gone?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, they’re gone.’ And she replied, ‘Good.’”
“In the hospital,” Purdy remembers thinking, “I should be crying, but I’m not. This is so challenging, but I know I can do this.”
Many people, when faced with what seems like a great tragedy, might be tempted to withdraw from life and hide their seeming “disability.” Not Purdy. Her willingness to accept herself as she is can be seen in her attitude toward her prosthetic legs. After her recovery, Purdy was given a set of prosthetics made of metal. She became comfortable with these. A few years later, the family raised $30,000 to purchase a life-like set with wrinkles, toenails, veins, pores, and a natural skin tone. Purdy says, “I wear them when I want to be incognito, or when I go to an event. Otherwise I like my metal ones. They are different, and I think they are unique. What makes you unique makes you beautiful.”
Purdy didn’t let the loss of her legs keep her from her passion, either. “I remember feeling myself snow-boarding again. I absolutely knew I would do it again.”
Seven months after leaving the hospital, she was back on a snow-board. The first time she tried snow-boarding with her new legs, she got off the chair lift only to watch her legs and the snowboard going down the hill ahead of her, much to the shock of all the skiers and snow-boarders. She persisted until she was as good on the snowboard with her new legs as she had been before the illness.
“If I had given up, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Purdy says, who is 29 now.
She met her partner, Daniel Gale, three years after her illness. After a day of snowboarding, she showed him her metal legs. His only reaction was to ask her to go snowboarding again the next day.
As their relationship developed, Purdy and Gale began to brainstorm ways to help other people with dis-abilities. Their thinking led to the creation, in 2005, of a nonprofit organization, Adaptive Action Sports, which helps youth and young adults with permanent physical disabilities enjoy extreme sports such as snowboarding and skate-boarding. Purdy named it Adaptive Action Sports because she does not like the “d” word.
“I don’t look at myself like I’m disabled,” Purdy says. “I look at myself like I’m adaptive, because I find a way.”
Purdy has certainly found a way to do far more things than many, such as modeling, snowboarding, and running her organization. “The more that I am able to work with other people who are in challenging circumstances, the more I heal,” Purdy says.
“In a way, everybody has a dis-ability,” Purdy says. “We all have things we have to work on with ourselves; we all have obstacles that we have to overcome. When you choose not to overcome those obstacles, that’s when it becomes a disability.”"
I hope you found this article as moving as I did and that you can find some personal lessons within it. I see clients every day with their own forms of disability : negative beliefs, emotional baggage and habits that don't serve them. Most of us don't have the amazing capacity to overcome potential tragedy that Amy has but we can learn new techniques of thought and behaviour that will bring us more joy and less struggle. There are groups, individual therapists, books and tapes galore that could help you achieve your peace.
If you would like to ask any questions about this or other subjects, please use the comment box below or, for privacy, e-mail bee@thelifedesignstudio.co.uk.
Warmest wishes
Bee
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