Amy Purdy

At that point, it actually wasn't.

It was really weird.

It was painful before when I first entered the hospital, but when I woke up from the coma, it was painful.

it wasn't painful.

It was just confining.

I just wanted to move my toes.

I wanted to like feel the air between my toes and just felt like, you know, like I couldn't, I could, I could kind of move my feet.

I could kind of move my toes, but I was every day losing the ability to do that.

And so then I, it was a couple of weeks after I woke up from that coma.

First of all, they tried to save my,

feet it was pretty much my feet it's above the ankle about two inches is where I was affected and so they tried to save I always say my legs because now I'm in actual prosthetic legs but they they wanted to bring me to a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to try to infuse my tissues with oxygen but I was too unstable they couldn't move me from my hospital bed or anything and and then they would you know do they bring in physical therapists and

massage and rub creams that are really bad for you but that like bring blood flow.

They were doing everything they could and ultimately just –

They knew that if they didn't amputate my feet, that it would spread.

Yes, because it turns into gangrene, basically.

And gangrene can spread really, really fast, within minutes to hours.

It's just suddenly, once it hits, you're amputating higher and higher.

So I have to say, though, I got lucky.

I know a lot of people who either died from meningococcal meningitis or survived it.

but lost their legs to their hips, their arms and their legs.