by Amy Purdy
First published 2014
Amy Purdy faces death at nineteen when bacterial meningitis strikes her in Las Vegas. Doctors give her less than two percent odds of survival. During a near-death experience, three figures offer her a choice between life and death, telling her everything will make sense eventually. She chooses to live. After losing both legs to amputation, Purdy rebuilds her existence around bold adventures and athletic pursuits. She becomes the only double amputee to compete in Paralympic adaptive snowboarding, claiming bronze for Team USA in 2014. Later, she captivates television audiences as a finalist on Dancing with the Stars, performing with prosthetic legs. Purdy connects her recovery to spiritual insights from her brush with death and a premonition she experienced weeks before falling ill. Her memoir chronicles the physical and emotional work of learning to walk, compete, and dance again. The book argues that second chances come with purpose and that human capability exceeds our assumptions about limitation.
Genres: medical, autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, personal-development, inspirational, disability
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: inspirational, overcoming-the-odds
Setting: Las Vegas
256 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow
Content warnings: medical-trauma