Amy Purdy’s ‘incredible journey’ has become part of Las Vegas lore

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Wade Vandervort

Las Vegas amputee Amy Purdy won bronze and silver medals for snowboarding at the Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Fri, Apr 6, 2018 (2 a.m.)

Las Vegas’ Amy Purdy on ‘DWTS’

Tom Bergeron, Amy Purdy of Las Vegas and Derek Hough on Season 18 of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday, May 19, 2014. Launch slideshow »

Amy Purdy’s life changed when a meningitis infection almost 20 years ago left her in septic shock, resulting in the amputation of both of her legs.

But she never stopped dreaming.

The Cimarron-Memorial High alum, who graduated in 1998, traveled the world, started a foundation, performed on "Dancing With the Stars" and became a Paralympic Winter Games medalist.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” the 38-year-old Purdy says.

Purdy most recently earned silver and bronze snowboarding medals in last month’s Paralympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, adding to a bronze she won during snowboarding’s inaugural appearance in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia. She’s medaled in all three paralympic events she’s entered.

The United States fielded a record 74 Paralympians in this year’s games, but Purdy says she was one of the few who didn’t have to pay her way through the World Cup and qualifying circuits. She’s spoken around the world for corporate businesses, which have in turn paid her expenses.

Purdy earned endorsements from companies like Toyota, Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble and Bridgestone Tires, in addition to the usual per diems the U.S. Olympic Committee provides to athletes.

The endorsements started with a viral TED talk she gave in 2011. Since then, Purdy has made a career of sharing her story to motivate professionals in the automotive, mortgage, insurance, medical and legal industries. She says most of her corporate sponsors came on before she had competed at the Paralympics for the first time.

“I’ve been lucky, but it has been hard work trying to position myself,” Purdy says. “Winning medals isn’t always what gives you the opportunity. Once you start speaking for corporations, it puts you in front of people and allows you to network.”

Purdy’s voice still cracks as she recounts the story of how her life was transformed, when she contracted Neisseria meningitidis in the summer of 1999. Purdy, who worked as a massage therapist on the Strip at the time, was rushed to the hospital, and weeks later had her legs amputated.

Doctors at MountainView Hospital assessed her chance of survival at less than 15 percent and administered Levophed, which is considered the last line of defense to raise blood pressure. The drug cuts off circulation to a person’s arms and legs to focus blood flow between the heart and brain.

Her aunt Debbie Luke, a registered nurse, says it saved her life.

Luke, along with many others in Purdy’s family, spent weeks by her side during those life-altering moments. Looking back, Luke isn’t surprised by Purdy’s success, considering the personality she showed as a young girl.

“She was always determined to get through anything that got in her way,” Luke says. “When Amy put her mind to something, she accomplished it, and that’s always how she has been.”

“She’s very strong-willed and has known exactly what she wanted to accomplish,” Stef Purdy, her father, added. “She felt like she was given a second chance to live and doesn’t want it to go to waste.”

This story originally appeared in the Las Vegas Weekly.

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