June 3, 2021 • 34 mins
This is the second in our two part series with Amy Purdy, paralympic snowboarder, motivational speaker, Dancing With the Stars runner up and author. In this episode Amy talks about learning to snowboard again post-amputation, her intense relationship with her husband, her struggles with self-confidence, dancing her way to stardom with Derek Hough and how she stays positive in the midst of adversity.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. Welcome back
(00:27):
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. Last week
we heard Amy pertis inspiring story of surviving and thriving
after the loss of her legs below the knee at
the age of nineteen. Today, we'll talk about some of
the incredible accomplishments she's made in sports, in life, and
what motivates her going forward. Amy, can you share with
(00:48):
us your snowboarding career and how you made snowboarding into
a Paralympic sport. Yes, well, my snowboard career, let me
tell you how it began. My snowboard career began with
me trying to snowboard again for the first time on
two prosthetic legs. This, you know, I made the goal
(01:10):
that I was going to snowboard again that year after
I lost my legs, and I did. I went up
to the mountain with my sister and I strapped snowboard
boots to my feet and realized they felt really, really
weird and nothing like they felt before. And then I
stropped my snowboard on. Had no idea what to expect,
(01:31):
and I I stood up on my snowboard and I
kind of started to inch down the mountain a little bit,
and I rode over to my heel side and realized, okay,
that feels fine. And then I went to right over
to my toe side, and I realized my ankles when
it bend, and I started picking up speed and I
shot straight down the mountain and I hit this bump
(01:54):
and I fell, and my goggles went one way, my
beanie went the other way. My legs, still attached to
my snowboard went flying down the mountain. Meanwhile, I'm still
sitting on top of the mountain, completely embarrassed. I literally
heard a lady scream from the chair lift, like I've
broke into pieces. That's the last thing you want to see,
you know, when you're learning to skier snowboard as somebody
(02:14):
break into pieces. So I did. My sister had actually
hiked down, pick up my legs that were still attached
to my snowboard, hiked them back up to me, and
I thought, okay, you know, I was not expecting that
to happen. I was definitely not expecting, you know, these
detachable body parts to detach from my body. But they did,
(02:34):
and I was really really discouraged. It just felt impossible
at that time, and I thought, obviously, this is why
you don't see people at two prosthetic legs snowboarding every day,
because it's not possible. But then I thought, well, if
I can figure out a way to keep these detachable
body parts attached to my body, if I can figure
out a way to get my ankles to move in
(02:55):
the way I need them to that, maybe I can
do this. And you know, that's really when I decided, Okay,
I am going to get creative. You know, obstacles can
either stop you dead in your tracks or force you
to get creative. And that's what I decided to do.
So I went on this mission to try to figure
out how to snowboard again on two prosthetic legs. I
ended up making my own pair of feet to snowboard
(03:18):
and not you know, I wasn't like welding and all
the metal and all of this, but basically what I
did is I took different parts from different brands. I
just started experimenting. Um, you know, I would take an
ankle from one company and a foot from another company.
I remember turning the ankle backwards so that it moved
in a different way. I just started playing around with
(03:40):
things and I ended up kind of making these like
Frankenstein feet that were put together with pink duct tape
and I painted the tone els. But I made these
feet that I could snowboarding, and they actually worked. They
actually worked. Um. So these feet actually are also now
on this play at the Smithsonian. So if you ever
(04:02):
walking around the Smithsonian in d C and you see
your random pair of feet with nan pink duct tape,
you know that they're mine. But yeah, these feet worked,
they worked, and I thought, okay, you know, you just
got to get first of all, committed, and then you
get creative and then you find a way. And that
(04:23):
was really the beginning of my snowboard career. My husband
and I started a nonprofit organization called Adaptive Action Sports
after that. We were dating at the time, but we
wanted to learn from others out there who are involved
in action sports. You have prosthetic legs or different disabilities,
you know, figure out what they're doing, create this community
(04:44):
of people so that we could all learn from each
other and grow together. And through it, we realized there
was a lot of people out there snowboarding with prosthetic legs.
Just everybody's on their own, you know, everybody's trying to
figure it out on their own. So our organis station
really pulled everybody together and everybody was doing a really
(05:05):
good job. It's like we were writing like people who
have their legs and we're like, gosh, you know, this
needs to be a Paralympic sport. It was in the
Olympic Games, but it wasn't yet in the Paralympic Games.
And for those of you out there, if you don't know,
the Paralympics are, it's the adaptive division of the Olympic Games.
So you have the Special Olympics, which is a completely
(05:28):
separate organization for cognitive disabilities, but the Paralympics are for
physical disabilities, and we compete, you know, on the same courses.
We compete under Team USA. It's all a part of
the same system as the Olympic Games. Yet snowboarding wasn't
a part of it for Paralympians yet, and so We
(05:48):
really went on this mission with our organization to knock
down doors and create camps and clinics and events so
we could you know, train athletes and pull them out
the woodwork and see who's out there in the world competing,
and you know, helped to put on these big events
so that these athletes had a place to compete at.
(06:09):
We we put together the first adaptive snowboard competition for
the X Games, and then we put together adaptive snowboard
competitions for the Toyota Do Tour. These are big events,
you know, televised events that happened, and all of this
stuff is what helped us convince the Paralympic Committee that
(06:30):
snowboarding should be a Paralympic sport. And so after being
turned down multiple times and years of blood, sweat and tears,
in two thousand eleven, we found out snowboarding would be
a part of the two thousand fourteen Paralympic Games for
the very first time. So my mission then went from
kind of you know, trying to get snowboarding into the
(06:51):
Games to now trying to make the first ever US
Paralympic snowboard team. And I made it my mission and
trained like create easy. And I was the only double
leg ampute competitive snowboarder worldwide at that time. Everybody else
either had their legs and had maybe some kind of
impairment like let's say MS or CP, but they had
(07:12):
their legs or had one you know, human foot. They
may have one prosthetic leg and one normal leg, and
just them having that one normal leg was an advantage,
you know, over me, who had just two pieces of
carbon fiber pretty much for my feet. And so um,
I had to work really, really hard, and I ended
(07:33):
up gaining about eighteen pounds of muscle and made the
U S snowboard team and headed to Soci, Russia and
became the first female to bring home a bronze medal
in Paralympic snowboarding. And then I went back in two
thousand eighteen to my second Paralympic Games and brought home
two more medals there. But you know, it's amazing for
(07:55):
me because it's it just teaches me so much like
if something doesn't exist, you can create it, you know,
you really can. If if you're looking for something we
were looking for. I was looking for a community of
other athletes like me, and I couldn't find it, so
we put it together. You know, we we we wanted
to get snowboarding in the Paralympics, so we had to
really be the ones to create that pathway. And it's
(08:18):
amazing where that can lead you. So that's what led
me to Dancing with the Stars and you know, writing
a New York Times bestseller, and you know, to where
I'm at today. And I never could have imagined it though,
you know, I never would have imagined all of this.
I just wanted to snowboard again because I loved it,
because it made more heartful. That's amazing story. Part of
(08:41):
it that we haven't had a chance to talk about
yet is that you work with your husband Daniel. What
is that like? What is your relationship with Daniel like?
So we used to actually work together even more than
we do now because when we started the organization, we
were just you know, both all in growing together. We
were both executive directors, we were splitting up tasks. Um.
(09:05):
It was very challenging. It was very passion driven, which
was awesome, but it was very challenging. It actually kind
of took over our lives for many, many years. I
think for about eight years everything was our organization to
grow it that we didn't actually put enough attention to
our relationship. It's almost like our organization was almost like
(09:26):
a kid right where it's like everything poured into it,
and uh, and we kind of started to realize we
weren't taking care of each other. We actually ended up
um breaking up at one point. We were dating for
all those years, but we ended up kind of breaking
up and taking a bit of a break, but continuing
to work on the organization. And the thing that was
(09:46):
really really good about that is it actually ended up
putting us in the roles that I think were meant
to be in. So UM, I stepped away. I didn't
want to be behind the computer doing emails and um
building websites and all of that. I wanted to share
my story. I wanted to be able to inspire other people.
(10:10):
And so when we we took that break, I started
focusing on what I wanted for my life, which led
me to also become more of a spokesperson for the organization.
And he wanted to be the one running it, you know,
and he didn't want me looking over his shoulder all
the time to see if he sent that email or not,
so he really took over UM running the organization, and
(10:32):
so when we decided to come back together, we had
these more defined roles, which were fantastic because it's allowed
us to be our best selves without UM looking over
each other's shoulders, right, And so that's been such a journey.
And now UM now he runs the organization full time.
(10:56):
I'm a motivational speaker, so I speak to different corporations
and groups across the world. UM, but also am able
to you know, share the mission of the organization and
and UM bring in funding and support for their organization
and help it grow and help inspire other people with
disabilities to get involved and UM. So so yeah, it's
(11:18):
it's it's it's you know, it's just another one of
those things where it's like our passion, our passion led
us to some of the most amazing accomplishments and experiences
and opportunities of our of our life. But you know,
you never look at or you shouldn't really look at
the outcome. It's like you've got to do it because
you love it, you know. And for our organization, I
(11:41):
mean it's something that we did for many many years
without making one dollar. In fact, we put all our
money into it. But we loved it that much. And
that's how I feel about snowboarding, or that's how I
feel about speaking. It's when you love something so much
that you know not only are you not getting paid
to do it, but you would pay to do it.
That's important and that's what drives you through all the
(12:04):
challenge that comes throughout all of it and and keeps
you going when challenges come your way. And now for
a quick break. Now, one of the themes that comes
up a lot on our show is we we interview
powerful women and one of the challenges in a relationship
is your partner not feeling always overshadowed like instead of
(12:27):
being Daniel, he's Amy Party's husband. How do you deal
with I mean, honestly, I will say that has been
a journey. It really has um in ways, I mean
huge ways. My husband's incredibly supportive. He is my rock,
(12:47):
He is my support person behind the scenes, and he
doesn't get the attention. He's definitely Amy Party's husband, and
so it has been a journey to now I think
for him as well. Just it's something I think we're
still we're still navigating. But I think you know, something
(13:09):
we've learned this year is just I mean we we
we need each other. We we can't do this alone.
Even if even if he's Amy Perty's husband, I don't
think I would be able to do what I what
I do without his support, and especially this year because
(13:29):
this injury that I have with my leg, I mean
my husband every day. So I've got this really cool
little scooter that I get around on. It's really fast,
It's like this little electric bike. You know, he's he's
picking this up and putting it in the truck every
single day every time we go somewhere. Just physically I
need him, and emotionally I've needed him and um and
(13:50):
just his confidence in me and his love and support
in me is what has allowed me to feel confident
in doing the work what I'm doing, and so that
support is necessary even if the rest of the world
doesn't see him as as the face of it all.
You know, tell us about dancing with the stars. Honestly,
(14:14):
that was one of the coolest experiences and opportunities of
my life and also one of, if not the hardest
thing that I've kind of chosen to go through. Right, So,
we have the challenges that come our way, we have
the challenges we choose, and then we have the challenges
that choose us. So one of the challenges that I
chose was to do Dancing with the Stars, and it
(14:34):
was really really difficult and um but also incredibly rewarding.
I went in thinking, maybe I'll learn the chaw chaw,
maybe I'll learn the salsa. I didn't realize it was
going to be such a such a deep journey kind
of into my my life and everything I've gone through
(14:57):
and sharing all that really with the world. In fact,
I remember, I didn't want to go too deep, you know,
I didn't want people to feel bad for me. I
don't know I had to prosthetic legs. It's kind of
there was a lot that went on even before the
show started, where once they announced our names and that
we were going to be on the show, there was
already conversation in the media and people commenting right on
(15:21):
different articles and stuff like that, like, oh, they're bringing
on a girl with two prosthetic legs, and she'll get
sympathy points, you know, stuff like that where I'm like, oh,
my gosh, nobody has even like met me at or
giving me a chance yet, and there's already this kind
of idea that like, oh, they're trying to pull on
heart spurait strings, that's why they're bringing on a girl
(15:42):
with two prosthetic legs. And meanwhile, I was an athlete,
and I'm like, I'm not showing up for sympathy, you know,
I'm showing up to compete, just like everybody else. And
so there's almost like these little challenges and mental challenges
to get through before even stepping onto the show. And
I didn't want to make a fool out of myself
because I thought, what if I can't do this, what
(16:03):
if I actually can't do this on too prosthetic feet?
And I put a lot of pressure on myself to
represent the possibilities because I'm the one that was given
the opportunity. I wanted to show what, you know, not
just what people with disabilities or people with too prosthetic
legs could do, but I I wanted to show what
(16:25):
the possibilities are for all of us. That you deal
with challenges, you get creative, you find a way you
make it happen. And and so that's kind of the
drive that that kept me going through the show. Um,
but it was one of the most amazing experiences I've
ever been through truly And are you still close with
your partner Derek? I am. I mean at this point,
(16:46):
I feel like you know COVID life. We haven't seen
each other in quite some time, but yeah, we we
ended up doing quite a few things after the show
as well, different projects. We always involve each other in
different projects. Um that will have going on. He has
a YouTube channel, so he interviewed me for that. Then
we we've had some some partnerships, brand partnerships that have overlapped,
(17:08):
so we've we've kind of traveled together and done some
fun things together. But it's um, yeah, I mean it
definitely the show, definitely, it definitely bonds you in a
very interesting way because you don't even know each other
when you started, and yet you need each other and
it's almost like going through a war together where you're
(17:30):
just like relying on each other and it's so challenging
you're so grateful to get through every second. And it
was an incredible experience, and I mean it truly did
change my life forever. Where it took it took what
I was already doing and created this platform, or gave
me a platform where all of a sudden I was
(17:52):
a household name and you know people, Oh my gosh,
I think the most amazing part of it, to be honest,
this is the most amazing part is people would send
me videos their little kids watching me on Dancing with
the Stars. You know, sometimes there would be a little
kid who's missing an arm or having or who has
a prosthetic wake, but sometimes there's just any little kid,
(18:13):
you know, watching I had so many videos, I mean
thousands of videos of parents sending me their kids cheering
for me on Dancing with the Stars. There is nothing
more fulfilling than that. But that's I think, nothing more
important than that, Like to be able to show I'm
gonna cry, but just to be able to you know,
(18:36):
show kids, um what the possibilities are if you work
really hard and that life gets hard, but that you
can follow your dreams and you can do amazing things
that no matter what your circumstances are, it's beautiful. One
of the passions I share with you as a passion
(18:57):
for Oprah. And you had dinner with Oprah after Dancing
with the Stars, right, Well, I have actually done quite
a few things with Oprah after Dancing with the Stars.
But when we were on the show, actually going into
the finale, Oprah called Derek and I and she said,
(19:20):
I'm voting for both of you, and she's like, I think.
She said, if you win, I'm taking you out to dinner.
But we didn't win. We came in second place, and
we're like, okay, can you still so we um. Derek
and I actually decided to because we're like, this is special, Okay.
(19:40):
We actually went to Oprah's house for lunch and we
wanted to show up in style, so we uh, we
charted a helicopter. We flew from l A to where
she lives, and it was it was spectacular. We literally
landed in her lawn and had lunch at her how
and then I ended up doing a speaking tour with
(20:03):
her across the country. It was called the Life You
Want Tour and we had eight stops across the country.
So I did that with her and Elizabeth Gilbert and
Deepak Chopra. It was I mean, I don't know if
you read this part in the book, but I grew
up listening to Deepak Chopra. You know, I grew up
(20:23):
watching Oprah like so many people. UM. And then when
I started to want to share my story, Elizabeth Gilbert
was an inspiration because I loved the way she authentically spoke.
And so these were my biggest inspirations. And then suddenly
I was on a speaking tour with all of them,
where our dressing rooms were lined up, and I literally
(20:45):
knocked on Deepak Chopra's door, gave him my book and
he endorsed it right then and there. I gave Elizabeth
Gilbert my book, she endorsed it. I gave Oprah my book,
she endorsed it. Talk about taking advantage of a moment.
That's a amazing no kidding, thank god I had a book,
I guess at that time, I just but you know,
(21:06):
it's one of those things where it's like so serendipitous
that it was meant to be, but yet you have
to do the work on your own because it's meaningful
to you. And then when those opportunities light up. You know,
that's where they say what like luck is when hard
work and opportunity collide. And that's kind of what that
(21:30):
was for me. Like I wanted to write my book
no matter what I did. I wasn't thinking about New
York Times bestseller. I was just thinking, I have this
journey and the story and things that have helped me
along the way, and I want to share this with
other people. And this, this story, this book lived inside
of me. It was so so screaming to get out
that I had told my team that, you know, as
(21:53):
soon as Dancing with the Stars is over, I'm going
to write my book. I don't care if I have
to lock myself, you know, on a island somewhere in
a cabin somewhere for six months. I'm going to write
this book. And it just so happens. I got a
deal with HarperCollins the day after Dancing with the Stars,
and they gave me not a six month deadline to
(22:15):
write this book. They gave me a six week down
and so I went straight from Dancing with the Stars
to New York. I actually worked with a writer there
who helped me, and we just dove into my book.
We wrote it in six weeks, and I had a
lot of it written already because I had journaled over
(22:37):
over time. But I really needed help with the structure.
So she helped me put the structure together, and um, yeah,
in six weeks, the book was written, and it just
so happens. It came out the very last day of
two thousand fourteen, which was my goal. Once again, I
realized I kind of need those timelines, and so I said, Okay,
by the end of two thousand fourteen, this book is
(22:58):
going to be written. And it just so happens it
came about the last day of two thousand fourteen and
went on to be a New York Times bestseller. And then, uh,
it happened to overlap with the Oprah tour I was on,
so I actually had I had the galley of the
book to share with them. The timing was so perfect
because that was the time we were looking for endorsements.
(23:19):
Is when I happened to be on Oprah's tour and
I had written about them in my book. I had
written about Deepak Chopra at the beginning of my book
that's you know, growing up, That's who I listened to.
I wrote about Elizabeth Gilbert. As I was learning to
do my ted talk, I wrote about Oprah And now
I'm literally on a speaking tour with them and they
(23:41):
endorsed it. So you just there's magic. See, there's magic
that happens in life that you can never even prepare for,
you can never even you know, plan that ever, And
you just got to do your heart's work. You know,
you've got to do the things that make you feel alive,
that make you feel passionate. Were the things that you
can help serve others with. I mean, that's usually where
(24:03):
you find your purpose, right, Like your passion is something
you do for yourself. I would say snowboarding for me
was my passion. I'm so grateful I did it. It
got me through the most challenging days of my life
because it gave me something to look forward to. But
your purpose is something you do for others. So for
me starting my organization, that's when that's when I actually
(24:24):
started to feel fulfillment or speaking, you know, knowing that
I could help others on their journey, or writing my book.
And so when you do those things that are really
in line with you, I think that's when it attracts
these magical moments or you cross paths at the right time,
and those are the moments we always call luck. But
(24:46):
you know, if you're doing the work ahead of time,
then you're prepared when those opportunities arrive. And now for
a quick break. All right, let's move on to the
enlightening rounds. Amy, you want to start, what is your
nighttime routine. So I do a couple of things. When
I take a bath every night and I light a candle,
I relax. I might listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
(25:09):
I also have this amazing thing called a beamer. Have
you guys heard of that. It's sound waves. It's a
mat that you lay on and it actually helps your circulation,
so it helps you heal quicker. But it helps to
relax you as well, because everything in your body is
getting more blood. So I lay on that and you
only lay on it for about ten minutes at a time,
(25:29):
and it's a perfect way to just wind down from
the day. You know, I'll turn on music, I'll lay
on that, and I know that I'm doing something good
for my body. What is your dream place to travel
that you have yet to go to? Bali is definitely
one of them. I've been craving just beautiful, trickoise, warm water.
(25:52):
I visualize myself swimming in warm water, and um, I
feel like I gotta go to bolly to to get that.
What is one pandemic purchase that you have loved? Oh
my gosh, I love that question, but um oh, I
bought a condo. All right, Well, Lou Burns always comes
(26:16):
in with our male perspective. He's been listening to our
interview and he asked the final question, There's been times
that I can only imagine where you at the beginning
of this journey. We're looking at yourself and wasn't feeling
so pretty. Can you share with us a time where
that that happened to you and how did you overcome that.
(26:39):
I've been through ten surgeries this year. That does a
lot on your body. You can't control that. You can't
control what happens. Like the first few surgeries, I was
still in shape and I still felt like myself. But
then surgery five, surgery six, then they they compound the
(27:00):
last few months. I had three surgeries in a three
month period and it knocked me down. My skins dry, literally,
my hair like pieces of my hair is falling out
because of anesthesia. So you do not feel good. I'm
not working out like I was at the peak of
my performance. Yeah, I'm not where I want to be
(27:22):
realistically right when it comes to how I what I
see in the mirror. But that's exactly why I did
that exercise where I'm like, Okay, I can either get
crushed under what I feel so out of control of
right now. I Mean, here's the thing too, I have
a kidney transplant. I can't do botox. I can't just
(27:43):
go do something really quick. I can't do fillers. I
can't do these things that are such easy quick fixes
for everybody else. That makes it even more challenging because
it's like I can't do anything to help myself here.
And that's a lie. That's a lie. That's what you
feel when you get crushed under all the negative things
you're focusing on. Right So that's where I started thinking,
(28:04):
where am I in control? What do I have control
over right now? And that's when I started thinking, Look
my relationship. I've got an amazing relationship with my family
and my husband. I have that to be grateful for.
How can I nurture that more? My health? Okay, Um,
I can't do all these fun injectibles and all these
little things, but I can definitely eat good. Am I
even eating enough vegetables right now? No? Am I even
(28:26):
eating enough fruit right now? And protein? No? So I
start focusing on that, you know, start focusing on Okay,
So I don't like my body right now. I have
no muscle. I've lost a lot of weight. Okay, I'm
gonna jump on the floor and do some sit ups
and push ups and I'm gonna start that today. You know,
it's it's it's finding what you do have control over
and and focusing on those things, because you can very
(28:47):
easily get crushed under the things that you can't control.
You don't like about yourself. You look in the mirror,
you feel like there's so many things you need help with,
Like you are so far from where you want to be.
But all you have to do is take these little steps.
There are things that you are in control of, and
that's what we need to focus on, right like the
(29:07):
serenity prayer that my mom has always taught me since
I was little, which is to control the things you
can and to hand over and let go of the rest.
And I think that's when we feel our best. So
much there. And you know what, there's so much we
didn't even get to talk to her about. I know
(29:28):
that your father just was on dialysis, and I know
you wanted to talk to her about her own kidney failure,
her dad gave her his kidney. We didn't even get
to touch it. It's almost like we need to have
her back for another episode. I know, I know there
was so much more. Yes, you know, my my father
received a kidney transplant last April, and I know that's
something that Amy has lived with for two decades. There
(29:49):
was just it was impossible to cover all of the
terrain of her life. But the thing Sam that I
felt like we were able to talk with her about
was how she really finds a way to keep moving
forward no matter what the obstacle is, and there have
been a lot of obstacles. One of the things that
struck me was when I said her everyone has something,
and she said, everyone has lots of some things in
(30:10):
respect to challenges, and I thought that was so true.
And I also one of the things that that struck
me that that I will, I think, always remember and
I do a little bit of this too. Is I
loved when she said, I don't want to, you know,
be toxic a toxic positivity person. But and I've been
accused of that too, But she said, but I always
(30:31):
find something to look forward to, and that's exactly what
I do. I always have to have one thing to
look forward to. It could literally be like a great
meal out with a friend. It doesn't have to be
like a trip to you know, to Bali. Like she mentioned,
it could be literally anything, even if it's small. But
I think it's so important to have those things that
are in your future that you that are that are
(30:53):
exciting you. I agree. I loved how she talked about, yeah,
like finding one thing to hold onto to make that
next step forward. And when she talked about, you know,
her sister getting married right after after she lost both
her legs, she she identified this immediate and near term
goal and she had like a month to achieve it.
But I think that finding something near term and that
(31:14):
you feel is doable is something we can all take
as something that we really look for as we're trying
to find a way to move into that next area
of our life or overcome a big obstacle, because it's
it's taking the small pieces of what you can bite
off and just getting past that. Yeah. There there's also
something where I think a lot of people feel like, oh, what,
what right do I have to be upset? If this
(31:36):
person is you know, their circumstances are so much worse
than mine, right, And I think that every single person
suffering and joy is related to their own suffering and joy,
it's not related to someone else's and I think that's
the perspective that she has and it and it's so important.
It's really interesting that you bring that up, and it
(31:56):
immediately makes me think of another guest of ours, Laurie
got leave the therapist as an author. Lori said something
to us that I think, you know, I actually thought
of it while we were talking with Amy, because Laurie
said to us there's no hierarchy of pain, and maybe
it is that there's no hierarchy of pain except our own.
Because what Amy said that really hit me was like
she's like, I did die. I died. I died, right,
(32:19):
I mean, she flatlined on the table. She she could
have she could have died, she could have been disfigured.
She was talking about a rash that happens with a
lot of people that have meningitis, and she wasn't and
so to her and her own hierarchy, it's like it
could have been so much worse. And it's just a
really interesting way to look at life and to and
to think about how we can find the magic, which
(32:40):
is something else that Amy talked about. I also was
struck by lose question because for those of you who
are listening, who aren't seeing this on YouTube, you know,
you might not know. Amy is kind of she's dropped dead. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous,
And it's so shocking to hear that her week last
(33:02):
week was partially destroyed by her lack of physical confidence
in terms of her beauty, because you would think, okay, well,
she already has that, she doesn't have to think about that.
But it just goes to show you how much of
it is internal and how we're all so much more
alike than we are different we are and I think
you know what I hope Sam, is that we get
(33:24):
a chance to meet Amy in person and to see
that radiance in real life, because it was it was
just really amazing. We will that What's Her Story tour
is on the horizon name It's coming. Thanks for listening
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. We would
so appreciate if you would leave a view wherever you
(33:45):
get your podcasts, and of course connect with us on
social media at What's Her Story podcast. What's Her Story
with Sam and Amy is powered by my company, The
Riveter at the Riveter dot c O in Sam's company,
park Place Payments at park Place payments dot com. Thank
to our producer Stacy Para, our social media manager Phoebe
Crane Fust and our male perspective Blue Burns m hm
Hi, I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. Welcome back
(00:27):
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. Last week
we heard Amy pertis inspiring story of surviving and thriving
after the loss of her legs below the knee at
the age of nineteen. Today, we'll talk about some of
the incredible accomplishments she's made in sports, in life, and
what motivates her going forward. Amy, can you share with
(00:48):
us your snowboarding career and how you made snowboarding into
a Paralympic sport. Yes, well, my snowboard career, let me
tell you how it began. My snowboard career began with
me trying to snowboard again for the first time on
two prosthetic legs. This, you know, I made the goal
(01:10):
that I was going to snowboard again that year after
I lost my legs, and I did. I went up
to the mountain with my sister and I strapped snowboard
boots to my feet and realized they felt really, really
weird and nothing like they felt before. And then I
stropped my snowboard on. Had no idea what to expect,
(01:31):
and I I stood up on my snowboard and I
kind of started to inch down the mountain a little bit,
and I rode over to my heel side and realized, okay,
that feels fine. And then I went to right over
to my toe side, and I realized my ankles when
it bend, and I started picking up speed and I
shot straight down the mountain and I hit this bump
(01:54):
and I fell, and my goggles went one way, my
beanie went the other way. My legs, still attached to
my snowboard went flying down the mountain. Meanwhile, I'm still
sitting on top of the mountain, completely embarrassed. I literally
heard a lady scream from the chair lift, like I've
broke into pieces. That's the last thing you want to see,
you know, when you're learning to skier snowboard as somebody
(02:14):
break into pieces. So I did. My sister had actually
hiked down, pick up my legs that were still attached
to my snowboard, hiked them back up to me, and
I thought, okay, you know, I was not expecting that
to happen. I was definitely not expecting, you know, these
detachable body parts to detach from my body. But they did,
(02:34):
and I was really really discouraged. It just felt impossible
at that time, and I thought, obviously, this is why
you don't see people at two prosthetic legs snowboarding every day,
because it's not possible. But then I thought, well, if
I can figure out a way to keep these detachable
body parts attached to my body, if I can figure
out a way to get my ankles to move in
(02:55):
the way I need them to that, maybe I can
do this. And you know, that's really when I decided, Okay,
I am going to get creative. You know, obstacles can
either stop you dead in your tracks or force you
to get creative. And that's what I decided to do.
So I went on this mission to try to figure
out how to snowboard again on two prosthetic legs. I
ended up making my own pair of feet to snowboard
(03:18):
and not you know, I wasn't like welding and all
the metal and all of this, but basically what I
did is I took different parts from different brands. I
just started experimenting. Um, you know, I would take an
ankle from one company and a foot from another company.
I remember turning the ankle backwards so that it moved
in a different way. I just started playing around with
(03:40):
things and I ended up kind of making these like
Frankenstein feet that were put together with pink duct tape
and I painted the tone els. But I made these
feet that I could snowboarding, and they actually worked. They
actually worked. Um. So these feet actually are also now
on this play at the Smithsonian. So if you ever
(04:02):
walking around the Smithsonian in d C and you see
your random pair of feet with nan pink duct tape,
you know that they're mine. But yeah, these feet worked,
they worked, and I thought, okay, you know, you just
got to get first of all, committed, and then you
get creative and then you find a way. And that
(04:23):
was really the beginning of my snowboard career. My husband
and I started a nonprofit organization called Adaptive Action Sports
after that. We were dating at the time, but we
wanted to learn from others out there who are involved
in action sports. You have prosthetic legs or different disabilities,
you know, figure out what they're doing, create this community
(04:44):
of people so that we could all learn from each
other and grow together. And through it, we realized there
was a lot of people out there snowboarding with prosthetic legs.
Just everybody's on their own, you know, everybody's trying to
figure it out on their own. So our organis station
really pulled everybody together and everybody was doing a really
(05:05):
good job. It's like we were writing like people who
have their legs and we're like, gosh, you know, this
needs to be a Paralympic sport. It was in the
Olympic Games, but it wasn't yet in the Paralympic Games.
And for those of you out there, if you don't know,
the Paralympics are, it's the adaptive division of the Olympic Games.
So you have the Special Olympics, which is a completely
(05:28):
separate organization for cognitive disabilities, but the Paralympics are for
physical disabilities, and we compete, you know, on the same courses.
We compete under Team USA. It's all a part of
the same system as the Olympic Games. Yet snowboarding wasn't
a part of it for Paralympians yet, and so We
(05:48):
really went on this mission with our organization to knock
down doors and create camps and clinics and events so
we could you know, train athletes and pull them out
the woodwork and see who's out there in the world competing,
and you know, helped to put on these big events
so that these athletes had a place to compete at.
(06:09):
We we put together the first adaptive snowboard competition for
the X Games, and then we put together adaptive snowboard
competitions for the Toyota Do Tour. These are big events,
you know, televised events that happened, and all of this
stuff is what helped us convince the Paralympic Committee that
(06:30):
snowboarding should be a Paralympic sport. And so after being
turned down multiple times and years of blood, sweat and tears,
in two thousand eleven, we found out snowboarding would be
a part of the two thousand fourteen Paralympic Games for
the very first time. So my mission then went from
kind of you know, trying to get snowboarding into the
(06:51):
Games to now trying to make the first ever US
Paralympic snowboard team. And I made it my mission and
trained like create easy. And I was the only double
leg ampute competitive snowboarder worldwide at that time. Everybody else
either had their legs and had maybe some kind of
impairment like let's say MS or CP, but they had
(07:12):
their legs or had one you know, human foot. They
may have one prosthetic leg and one normal leg, and
just them having that one normal leg was an advantage,
you know, over me, who had just two pieces of
carbon fiber pretty much for my feet. And so um,
I had to work really, really hard, and I ended
(07:33):
up gaining about eighteen pounds of muscle and made the
U S snowboard team and headed to Soci, Russia and
became the first female to bring home a bronze medal
in Paralympic snowboarding. And then I went back in two
thousand eighteen to my second Paralympic Games and brought home
two more medals there. But you know, it's amazing for
(07:55):
me because it's it just teaches me so much like
if something doesn't exist, you can create it, you know,
you really can. If if you're looking for something we
were looking for. I was looking for a community of
other athletes like me, and I couldn't find it, so
we put it together. You know, we we we wanted
to get snowboarding in the Paralympics, so we had to
really be the ones to create that pathway. And it's
(08:18):
amazing where that can lead you. So that's what led
me to Dancing with the Stars and you know, writing
a New York Times bestseller, and you know, to where
I'm at today. And I never could have imagined it though,
you know, I never would have imagined all of this.
I just wanted to snowboard again because I loved it,
because it made more heartful. That's amazing story. Part of
(08:41):
it that we haven't had a chance to talk about
yet is that you work with your husband Daniel. What
is that like? What is your relationship with Daniel like?
So we used to actually work together even more than
we do now because when we started the organization, we
were just you know, both all in growing together. We
were both executive directors, we were splitting up tasks. Um.
(09:05):
It was very challenging. It was very passion driven, which
was awesome, but it was very challenging. It actually kind
of took over our lives for many, many years. I
think for about eight years everything was our organization to
grow it that we didn't actually put enough attention to
our relationship. It's almost like our organization was almost like
(09:26):
a kid right where it's like everything poured into it,
and uh, and we kind of started to realize we
weren't taking care of each other. We actually ended up
um breaking up at one point. We were dating for
all those years, but we ended up kind of breaking
up and taking a bit of a break, but continuing
to work on the organization. And the thing that was
(09:46):
really really good about that is it actually ended up
putting us in the roles that I think were meant
to be in. So UM, I stepped away. I didn't
want to be behind the computer doing emails and um
building websites and all of that. I wanted to share
my story. I wanted to be able to inspire other people.
(10:10):
And so when we we took that break, I started
focusing on what I wanted for my life, which led
me to also become more of a spokesperson for the organization.
And he wanted to be the one running it, you know,
and he didn't want me looking over his shoulder all
the time to see if he sent that email or not,
so he really took over UM running the organization, and
(10:32):
so when we decided to come back together, we had
these more defined roles, which were fantastic because it's allowed
us to be our best selves without UM looking over
each other's shoulders, right, And so that's been such a journey.
And now UM now he runs the organization full time.
(10:56):
I'm a motivational speaker, so I speak to different corporations
and groups across the world. UM, but also am able
to you know, share the mission of the organization and
and UM bring in funding and support for their organization
and help it grow and help inspire other people with
disabilities to get involved and UM. So so yeah, it's
(11:18):
it's it's it's you know, it's just another one of
those things where it's like our passion, our passion led
us to some of the most amazing accomplishments and experiences
and opportunities of our of our life. But you know,
you never look at or you shouldn't really look at
the outcome. It's like you've got to do it because
you love it, you know. And for our organization, I
(11:41):
mean it's something that we did for many many years
without making one dollar. In fact, we put all our
money into it. But we loved it that much. And
that's how I feel about snowboarding, or that's how I
feel about speaking. It's when you love something so much
that you know not only are you not getting paid
to do it, but you would pay to do it.
That's important and that's what drives you through all the
(12:04):
challenge that comes throughout all of it and and keeps
you going when challenges come your way. And now for
a quick break. Now, one of the themes that comes
up a lot on our show is we we interview
powerful women and one of the challenges in a relationship
is your partner not feeling always overshadowed like instead of
(12:27):
being Daniel, he's Amy Party's husband. How do you deal
with I mean, honestly, I will say that has been
a journey. It really has um in ways, I mean
huge ways. My husband's incredibly supportive. He is my rock,
(12:47):
He is my support person behind the scenes, and he
doesn't get the attention. He's definitely Amy Party's husband, and
so it has been a journey to now I think
for him as well. Just it's something I think we're
still we're still navigating. But I think you know, something
(13:09):
we've learned this year is just I mean we we
we need each other. We we can't do this alone.
Even if even if he's Amy Perty's husband, I don't
think I would be able to do what I what
I do without his support, and especially this year because
(13:29):
this injury that I have with my leg, I mean
my husband every day. So I've got this really cool
little scooter that I get around on. It's really fast,
It's like this little electric bike. You know, he's he's
picking this up and putting it in the truck every
single day every time we go somewhere. Just physically I
need him, and emotionally I've needed him and um and
(13:50):
just his confidence in me and his love and support
in me is what has allowed me to feel confident
in doing the work what I'm doing, and so that
support is necessary even if the rest of the world
doesn't see him as as the face of it all.
You know, tell us about dancing with the stars. Honestly,
(14:14):
that was one of the coolest experiences and opportunities of
my life and also one of, if not the hardest
thing that I've kind of chosen to go through. Right, So,
we have the challenges that come our way, we have
the challenges we choose, and then we have the challenges
that choose us. So one of the challenges that I
chose was to do Dancing with the Stars, and it
(14:34):
was really really difficult and um but also incredibly rewarding.
I went in thinking, maybe I'll learn the chaw chaw,
maybe I'll learn the salsa. I didn't realize it was
going to be such a such a deep journey kind
of into my my life and everything I've gone through
(14:57):
and sharing all that really with the world. In fact,
I remember, I didn't want to go too deep, you know,
I didn't want people to feel bad for me. I
don't know I had to prosthetic legs. It's kind of
there was a lot that went on even before the
show started, where once they announced our names and that
we were going to be on the show, there was
already conversation in the media and people commenting right on
(15:21):
different articles and stuff like that, like, oh, they're bringing
on a girl with two prosthetic legs, and she'll get
sympathy points, you know, stuff like that where I'm like, oh,
my gosh, nobody has even like met me at or
giving me a chance yet, and there's already this kind
of idea that like, oh, they're trying to pull on
heart spurait strings, that's why they're bringing on a girl
(15:42):
with two prosthetic legs. And meanwhile, I was an athlete,
and I'm like, I'm not showing up for sympathy, you know,
I'm showing up to compete, just like everybody else. And
so there's almost like these little challenges and mental challenges
to get through before even stepping onto the show. And
I didn't want to make a fool out of myself
because I thought, what if I can't do this, what
(16:03):
if I actually can't do this on too prosthetic feet?
And I put a lot of pressure on myself to
represent the possibilities because I'm the one that was given
the opportunity. I wanted to show what, you know, not
just what people with disabilities or people with too prosthetic
legs could do, but I I wanted to show what
(16:25):
the possibilities are for all of us. That you deal
with challenges, you get creative, you find a way you
make it happen. And and so that's kind of the
drive that that kept me going through the show. Um,
but it was one of the most amazing experiences I've
ever been through truly And are you still close with
your partner Derek? I am. I mean at this point,
(16:46):
I feel like you know COVID life. We haven't seen
each other in quite some time, but yeah, we we
ended up doing quite a few things after the show
as well, different projects. We always involve each other in
different projects. Um that will have going on. He has
a YouTube channel, so he interviewed me for that. Then
we we've had some some partnerships, brand partnerships that have overlapped,
(17:08):
so we've we've kind of traveled together and done some
fun things together. But it's um, yeah, I mean it
definitely the show, definitely, it definitely bonds you in a
very interesting way because you don't even know each other
when you started, and yet you need each other and
it's almost like going through a war together where you're
(17:30):
just like relying on each other and it's so challenging
you're so grateful to get through every second. And it
was an incredible experience, and I mean it truly did
change my life forever. Where it took it took what
I was already doing and created this platform, or gave
me a platform where all of a sudden I was
(17:52):
a household name and you know people, Oh my gosh,
I think the most amazing part of it, to be honest,
this is the most amazing part is people would send
me videos their little kids watching me on Dancing with
the Stars. You know, sometimes there would be a little
kid who's missing an arm or having or who has
a prosthetic wake, but sometimes there's just any little kid,
(18:13):
you know, watching I had so many videos, I mean
thousands of videos of parents sending me their kids cheering
for me on Dancing with the Stars. There is nothing
more fulfilling than that. But that's I think, nothing more
important than that, Like to be able to show I'm
gonna cry, but just to be able to you know,
(18:36):
show kids, um what the possibilities are if you work
really hard and that life gets hard, but that you
can follow your dreams and you can do amazing things
that no matter what your circumstances are, it's beautiful. One
of the passions I share with you as a passion
(18:57):
for Oprah. And you had dinner with Oprah after Dancing
with the Stars, right, Well, I have actually done quite
a few things with Oprah after Dancing with the Stars.
But when we were on the show, actually going into
the finale, Oprah called Derek and I and she said,
(19:20):
I'm voting for both of you, and she's like, I think.
She said, if you win, I'm taking you out to dinner.
But we didn't win. We came in second place, and
we're like, okay, can you still so we um. Derek
and I actually decided to because we're like, this is special, Okay.
(19:40):
We actually went to Oprah's house for lunch and we
wanted to show up in style, so we uh, we
charted a helicopter. We flew from l A to where
she lives, and it was it was spectacular. We literally
landed in her lawn and had lunch at her how
and then I ended up doing a speaking tour with
(20:03):
her across the country. It was called the Life You
Want Tour and we had eight stops across the country.
So I did that with her and Elizabeth Gilbert and
Deepak Chopra. It was I mean, I don't know if
you read this part in the book, but I grew
up listening to Deepak Chopra. You know, I grew up
(20:23):
watching Oprah like so many people. UM. And then when
I started to want to share my story, Elizabeth Gilbert
was an inspiration because I loved the way she authentically spoke.
And so these were my biggest inspirations. And then suddenly
I was on a speaking tour with all of them,
where our dressing rooms were lined up, and I literally
(20:45):
knocked on Deepak Chopra's door, gave him my book and
he endorsed it right then and there. I gave Elizabeth
Gilbert my book, she endorsed it. I gave Oprah my book,
she endorsed it. Talk about taking advantage of a moment.
That's a amazing no kidding, thank god I had a book,
I guess at that time, I just but you know,
(21:06):
it's one of those things where it's like so serendipitous
that it was meant to be, but yet you have
to do the work on your own because it's meaningful
to you. And then when those opportunities light up. You know,
that's where they say what like luck is when hard
work and opportunity collide. And that's kind of what that
(21:30):
was for me. Like I wanted to write my book
no matter what I did. I wasn't thinking about New
York Times bestseller. I was just thinking, I have this
journey and the story and things that have helped me
along the way, and I want to share this with
other people. And this, this story, this book lived inside
of me. It was so so screaming to get out
that I had told my team that, you know, as
(21:53):
soon as Dancing with the Stars is over, I'm going
to write my book. I don't care if I have
to lock myself, you know, on a island somewhere in
a cabin somewhere for six months. I'm going to write
this book. And it just so happens. I got a
deal with HarperCollins the day after Dancing with the Stars,
and they gave me not a six month deadline to
(22:15):
write this book. They gave me a six week down
and so I went straight from Dancing with the Stars
to New York. I actually worked with a writer there
who helped me, and we just dove into my book.
We wrote it in six weeks, and I had a
lot of it written already because I had journaled over
(22:37):
over time. But I really needed help with the structure.
So she helped me put the structure together, and um, yeah,
in six weeks, the book was written, and it just
so happens. It came out the very last day of
two thousand fourteen, which was my goal. Once again, I
realized I kind of need those timelines, and so I said, Okay,
by the end of two thousand fourteen, this book is
(22:58):
going to be written. And it just so happens it
came about the last day of two thousand fourteen and
went on to be a New York Times bestseller. And then, uh,
it happened to overlap with the Oprah tour I was on,
so I actually had I had the galley of the
book to share with them. The timing was so perfect
because that was the time we were looking for endorsements.
(23:19):
Is when I happened to be on Oprah's tour and
I had written about them in my book. I had
written about Deepak Chopra at the beginning of my book
that's you know, growing up, That's who I listened to.
I wrote about Elizabeth Gilbert. As I was learning to
do my ted talk, I wrote about Oprah And now
I'm literally on a speaking tour with them and they
(23:41):
endorsed it. So you just there's magic. See, there's magic
that happens in life that you can never even prepare for,
you can never even you know, plan that ever, And
you just got to do your heart's work. You know,
you've got to do the things that make you feel alive,
that make you feel passionate. Were the things that you
can help serve others with. I mean, that's usually where
(24:03):
you find your purpose, right, Like your passion is something
you do for yourself. I would say snowboarding for me
was my passion. I'm so grateful I did it. It
got me through the most challenging days of my life
because it gave me something to look forward to. But
your purpose is something you do for others. So for
me starting my organization, that's when that's when I actually
(24:24):
started to feel fulfillment or speaking, you know, knowing that
I could help others on their journey, or writing my book.
And so when you do those things that are really
in line with you, I think that's when it attracts
these magical moments or you cross paths at the right time,
and those are the moments we always call luck. But
(24:46):
you know, if you're doing the work ahead of time,
then you're prepared when those opportunities arrive. And now for
a quick break. All right, let's move on to the
enlightening rounds. Amy, you want to start, what is your
nighttime routine. So I do a couple of things. When
I take a bath every night and I light a candle,
I relax. I might listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
(25:09):
I also have this amazing thing called a beamer. Have
you guys heard of that. It's sound waves. It's a
mat that you lay on and it actually helps your circulation,
so it helps you heal quicker. But it helps to
relax you as well, because everything in your body is
getting more blood. So I lay on that and you
only lay on it for about ten minutes at a time,
(25:29):
and it's a perfect way to just wind down from
the day. You know, I'll turn on music, I'll lay
on that, and I know that I'm doing something good
for my body. What is your dream place to travel
that you have yet to go to? Bali is definitely
one of them. I've been craving just beautiful, trickoise, warm water.
(25:52):
I visualize myself swimming in warm water, and um, I
feel like I gotta go to bolly to to get that.
What is one pandemic purchase that you have loved? Oh
my gosh, I love that question, but um oh, I
bought a condo. All right, Well, Lou Burns always comes
(26:16):
in with our male perspective. He's been listening to our
interview and he asked the final question, There's been times
that I can only imagine where you at the beginning
of this journey. We're looking at yourself and wasn't feeling
so pretty. Can you share with us a time where
that that happened to you and how did you overcome that.
(26:39):
I've been through ten surgeries this year. That does a
lot on your body. You can't control that. You can't
control what happens. Like the first few surgeries, I was
still in shape and I still felt like myself. But
then surgery five, surgery six, then they they compound the
(27:00):
last few months. I had three surgeries in a three
month period and it knocked me down. My skins dry, literally,
my hair like pieces of my hair is falling out
because of anesthesia. So you do not feel good. I'm
not working out like I was at the peak of
my performance. Yeah, I'm not where I want to be
(27:22):
realistically right when it comes to how I what I
see in the mirror. But that's exactly why I did
that exercise where I'm like, Okay, I can either get
crushed under what I feel so out of control of
right now. I Mean, here's the thing too, I have
a kidney transplant. I can't do botox. I can't just
(27:43):
go do something really quick. I can't do fillers. I
can't do these things that are such easy quick fixes
for everybody else. That makes it even more challenging because
it's like I can't do anything to help myself here.
And that's a lie. That's a lie. That's what you
feel when you get crushed under all the negative things
you're focusing on. Right So that's where I started thinking,
(28:04):
where am I in control? What do I have control
over right now? And that's when I started thinking, Look
my relationship. I've got an amazing relationship with my family
and my husband. I have that to be grateful for.
How can I nurture that more? My health? Okay, Um,
I can't do all these fun injectibles and all these
little things, but I can definitely eat good. Am I
even eating enough vegetables right now? No? Am I even
(28:26):
eating enough fruit right now? And protein? No? So I
start focusing on that, you know, start focusing on Okay,
So I don't like my body right now. I have
no muscle. I've lost a lot of weight. Okay, I'm
gonna jump on the floor and do some sit ups
and push ups and I'm gonna start that today. You know,
it's it's it's finding what you do have control over
and and focusing on those things, because you can very
(28:47):
easily get crushed under the things that you can't control.
You don't like about yourself. You look in the mirror,
you feel like there's so many things you need help with,
Like you are so far from where you want to be.
But all you have to do is take these little steps.
There are things that you are in control of, and
that's what we need to focus on, right like the
(29:07):
serenity prayer that my mom has always taught me since
I was little, which is to control the things you
can and to hand over and let go of the rest.
And I think that's when we feel our best. So
much there. And you know what, there's so much we
didn't even get to talk to her about. I know
(29:28):
that your father just was on dialysis, and I know
you wanted to talk to her about her own kidney failure,
her dad gave her his kidney. We didn't even get
to touch it. It's almost like we need to have
her back for another episode. I know, I know there
was so much more. Yes, you know, my my father
received a kidney transplant last April, and I know that's
something that Amy has lived with for two decades. There
(29:49):
was just it was impossible to cover all of the
terrain of her life. But the thing Sam that I
felt like we were able to talk with her about
was how she really finds a way to keep moving
forward no matter what the obstacle is, and there have
been a lot of obstacles. One of the things that
struck me was when I said her everyone has something,
and she said, everyone has lots of some things in
(30:10):
respect to challenges, and I thought that was so true.
And I also one of the things that that struck
me that that I will, I think, always remember and
I do a little bit of this too. Is I
loved when she said, I don't want to, you know,
be toxic a toxic positivity person. But and I've been
accused of that too, But she said, but I always
(30:31):
find something to look forward to, and that's exactly what
I do. I always have to have one thing to
look forward to. It could literally be like a great
meal out with a friend. It doesn't have to be
like a trip to you know, to Bali. Like she mentioned,
it could be literally anything, even if it's small. But
I think it's so important to have those things that
are in your future that you that are that are
(30:53):
exciting you. I agree. I loved how she talked about, yeah,
like finding one thing to hold onto to make that
next step forward. And when she talked about, you know,
her sister getting married right after after she lost both
her legs, she she identified this immediate and near term
goal and she had like a month to achieve it.
But I think that finding something near term and that
(31:14):
you feel is doable is something we can all take
as something that we really look for as we're trying
to find a way to move into that next area
of our life or overcome a big obstacle, because it's
it's taking the small pieces of what you can bite
off and just getting past that. Yeah. There there's also
something where I think a lot of people feel like, oh, what,
what right do I have to be upset? If this
(31:36):
person is you know, their circumstances are so much worse
than mine, right, And I think that every single person
suffering and joy is related to their own suffering and joy,
it's not related to someone else's and I think that's
the perspective that she has and it and it's so important.
It's really interesting that you bring that up, and it
(31:56):
immediately makes me think of another guest of ours, Laurie
got leave the therapist as an author. Lori said something
to us that I think, you know, I actually thought
of it while we were talking with Amy, because Laurie
said to us there's no hierarchy of pain, and maybe
it is that there's no hierarchy of pain except our own.
Because what Amy said that really hit me was like
she's like, I did die. I died. I died, right,
(32:19):
I mean, she flatlined on the table. She she could
have she could have died, she could have been disfigured.
She was talking about a rash that happens with a
lot of people that have meningitis, and she wasn't and
so to her and her own hierarchy, it's like it
could have been so much worse. And it's just a
really interesting way to look at life and to and
to think about how we can find the magic, which
(32:40):
is something else that Amy talked about. I also was
struck by lose question because for those of you who
are listening, who aren't seeing this on YouTube, you know,
you might not know. Amy is kind of she's dropped dead. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous,
And it's so shocking to hear that her week last
(33:02):
week was partially destroyed by her lack of physical confidence
in terms of her beauty, because you would think, okay, well,
she already has that, she doesn't have to think about that.
But it just goes to show you how much of
it is internal and how we're all so much more
alike than we are different we are and I think
you know what I hope Sam, is that we get
(33:24):
a chance to meet Amy in person and to see
that radiance in real life, because it was it was
just really amazing. We will that What's Her Story tour
is on the horizon name It's coming. Thanks for listening
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. We would
so appreciate if you would leave a view wherever you
(33:45):
get your podcasts, and of course connect with us on
social media at What's Her Story podcast. What's Her Story
with Sam and Amy is powered by my company, The
Riveter at the Riveter dot c O in Sam's company,
park Place Payments at park Place payments dot com. Thank
to our producer Stacy Para, our social media manager Phoebe
Crane Fust and our male perspective Blue Burns m hm
Hosts And Creators
Samantha Ettus
Amy Nelson
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