Amy Purdy

“I have two prosthetic legs. This is my life; what am I going to do with it? And it's put me on this amazing journey. I can look back and be completely grateful and say I would never want to change anything.”

“My legs haven't disabled me. If anything, they've enabled me.”

“I kind of had to figure stuff out on my own and get myself snowboarding competitively again. I went through all types of different legs to try to learn which were going to work for me. Luckily, I was able to figure it out.”

“For me, I just began, eventually, to embrace what I had. This is what I have to deal with and, not just deal with, but this is what I have to share, and how can I do that the best way.”

“I always felt really lucky that I only lost my legs, because it could've been so much worse.”

“I always say snowboarding saved my life. It gave me a reason to focus on the future; it gave me something to be passionate about.”

“I knew I loved music, and I knew that I could feel music. So, I knew I had rhythm.”

“My dad gave me one of his kidneys.”

“I think the designs and creativity are limitless with 3-D-printed clothing.”

“I've always been driven, and I like the creative aspect of figuring things out.”

“I feel that losing both my legs was a blessing. It was meant to happen to me: I wouldn't have had the opportunity to touch so many lives in such a positive way.”

“The human foot has bones and muscles and can balance back and forth. If you step and you maybe make a little mistake, your foot can compensate. But if I step in the wrong spot, my foot isn't going to compensate because it's just one piece of carbon fiber.”

“Since losing my legs, I've found out that I am able to help other people by sharing how I've overcome my obstacles.”

“I knew I loved dancing with my friends.”

“Dancers know how to move their arms and their hands. But I don't know the first thing about how to move my arms and hands gracefully.”

“The way I look at it is, we all have disabilities.”

“After I lost my legs, all I wanted to do was snowboard again. I remember spending an entire year on the computer, looking for 'adaptive snowboarders' or 'snowboard legs' or 'adaptive snowboard schools' or just something that I could connect to. I already knew how to snowboard - I just needed to find the right legs.”

“If somebody would've told me that I was going to lose my legs at the age of 19, I would've thought there's absolutely no way I'd be able to handle that. But then it happened, and I realized that there's so much more to live for, that my life isn't about my legs.”

“Oprah has been a true inspiration to me, so I'm truly grateful both to her for taking the time to speak with me, and to the folks at 'DWTS' who set it all up.”