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Paralympic medalist and “Dancing with the Stars” finalist Amy Purdy says her life changed in a matter of hours at just 19 years old — when doctors told her she had less than a 2% chance of surviving a devastating illness.
Today, she’s sharing how she rebuilt her life after losing both legs below the knees in a new book aimed at helping others navigate life-altering setbacks.
In an exclusive on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Purdy recalled the moment everything shifted.
“I was 19 years old when I lost both my legs below the knees to something called bacterial meningitis,” Purdy said. “We have no idea how I got it. I was a massage therapist at the time. I was also a passionate snowboarder, and my goal was to travel the world and snowboard.”
Paralympian and “Dancing with the Stars” finalist Amy Purdy says within 24 hours of getting sick, she was on life support. (Nora Schaefer)
The “Bounce Forward” author explained how her health spiraled almost instantly.
“And then all of a sudden, I got sick one day,” she said. “Within 24 hours, I was in the hospital on life support, where I was given less than a 2% chance of living, and it ended up being bacterial meningitis.”
WATCH: ‘DWTS’ FINALIST, PARALYMPIAN AMY PURDY BEATS 2% ODDS AFTER LOSING LEGS
The infection triggered septic shock, leaving her body ravaged.
“I ended up fighting for my life. I lost both my legs below the knees to septic shock. I ended up losing my kidney function, my spleen, the hearing in my left ear — barely survived,” Purdy said.
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Amy Purdy smiles while seated on a stool in a relaxed studio portrait, dressed in a white blouse and jeans with her prosthetic legs visible. (Nora Schaefer)
For the then-teenager, whose identity revolved around snowboarding and adventure, survival meant starting over.
“I ended up, you know, having to figure out who I was again in the world and how I wanted to live my life and how to put one baby step in front of the other and eventually worked my way, not just back, but forward in a way that I never could have imagined,” she said. “I ended up going further than I ever could have imagined … but it took a lot of steps to get there.”
“I was 19 years old when I lost both my legs below the knees to something called bacterial meningitis.”
Those steps ultimately led Purdy to the Paralympic Games, where she medaled in snowboarding — and later to the ballroom stage on “Dancing with the Stars,” where she competed alongside professional dancer Derek Hough.
But Purdy admitted the show brought a deeply personal challenge most viewers never realized.
WATCH: ‘DWTS’ FINALIST AMY PURDY TURNED FEAR INTO BREAKTHROUGH DURING COMPETITION
“When I went on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I first of all had no idea if I’d be able to do it with two prosthetic legs,” she said.
She initially turned down the opportunity because of a hurdle most dancers may take for granted.
“One of my biggest fears going on the show, and actually I originally said that I didn’t want to do the show, was that I couldn’t point my toes,” Purdy said. “And that’s so hard. I mean, as a dancer, you need to be able to point your toes.”
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Because her prosthetic feet are fixed at a 90-degree angle, it seemed impossible — until she discovered a creative workaround.
Paralympic snowboarder Amy Purdy attends the 10th anniversary of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” on April 21, 2015, in West Hollywood, California. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
“I remembered seeing these swimming feet in a magazine,” she said, referring to prosthetics designed for swim flippers that allow toes to point.
“I was able to point my toes with these feet,” Purdy said. “And it actually kind of healed something in me because I all of a sudden felt really feminine.”
Moments like that, she said, helped her reconnect with parts of herself she believed had been lost after her illness.
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“There are these little kind of moments through ‘Dancing with the Stars’ that helped me find parts of myself that I thought I lost,” she said. “Ultimately, they were always there.”
Amy Purdy and professional dancer Derek Hough strike a powerful pose during a live performance on “Dancing with the Stars.” (Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Purdy opens up even further in her upcoming book, “Bounce Forward.”
The book marks the first time she has shared in depth what happened after her early success — including moments when she had to rebuild yet again.
“I think the hardest chapter to write of this book was the first chapter, which was on grief,” Purdy said.
That chapter revisits the painful period when doctors predicted a dramatically limited future.
“It was the beginning of the journey of injuring my leg and not knowing what I’d be able to do again and actually having the doctors tell me, ‘You probably won’t ever walk comfortably again. You probably won’t ever snowboard again,'” she said.
WATCH: ‘DWTS’ FINALIST AMY PURDY DETAILS PAINFUL CHAPTER IN ‘BOUNCE FORWARD’
At one point, she said, a surgeon offered a bleak outlook.
“I remember one surgeon saying, ‘Well, hopefully you’ll walk to the end of your driveway and get your mail out of the mailbox one day,’” Purdy recalled.
“You can rebuild and transform yourself over and over again.”
But Purdy pushed back — reminding doctors who she was.
“I had to … beg and, like, tell him who I was,” she said. “Like, ‘No, I’m a competitive athlete. I snowboard seven hours a day. I did “Dancing with the Stars.” I work out every day. I walk through airports. I’m so active.’ And he was like, ‘I don’t think you’re gonna be able to do this stuff again.'”
“So, writing that first chapter and just going back to those feelings of loss of my identity and of who I thought I was, that was one of the hardest times in my life and one of the hardest chapters to write,” she said.
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“Bounce Forward” by Amy Purdy is currently available for pre-order and will release on April 14. (Amplify Publishing)
Through “Bounce Forward,” Purdy hopes to help others rethink how they approach life’s obstacles.
Rather than trying to “bounce back” to the person they once were, the book encourages readers to move forward into something new. It outlines 21 tools Purdy developed through her own journey of loss, reinvention and recovery.
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After beating the 2% survival odds and rebuilding her life from the ground up, the Paralympian is sharing a grit-built game plan for resilience in her new book.
“For somebody who’s reading this, who thinks they’re starting over again, what I would want them to hear is, ‘Yes, you can start over again,’” Purdy told Fox News Digital. “And you can rebuild and transform yourself over and over again.”
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“Life isn’t about having everything perfectly together,” she added. “It’s about being able to live in the best way you can, even if you’re faced with adversity… So, every day you have a chance to wake up and decide how you’re going to live your life. And I hope that this book helps people do that.”
“Bounce Forward” is available for pre-order and will officially release on April 14.
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