After being diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at the age of 19, which caused her to lose both legs, Amy Purdy is back on her snowboard promoting the sport in a new way. The now 34-year-old athlete is helping to lead the sport of adaptive snowboarding in the United States and was one of the influencers who got the event approved as part of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.

Purdy, the founder of the non-profit organization Adaptive Action Sports, always had an end goal in mind.

“We made it a mission of ours to help to get snowboarding into the Paralympic Games as well as the Winter X Games, so in 2006 we started hosting snowboard camps, competitions and events,” she wrote on her blog. “After years of hard work our dream came true and in 2010 we hosted our first X Games adaptive boardercross event, which went off without a hitch. It also gave us platform to show the world what adaptive snowboarders were capable of.”

She said it was in May of last year that she checked her email and was thrilled with news that para-snowboarding would be included in the Sochi Winter Games. Although she is currently training in hopes of being able to compete, she expressed that she was happy just to have the sport accepted into the competition.

Earlier in the year Purdy was asked to attend the Sochi test event, where athletes are able to check out the courses. She was the only female invited in the para-snowboarding category.

“I always say snowboarding saved my life,” she told The Huffington Post. “It gave me a reason to focus on the future, it gave me something to be passionate about.”

Check out the video below of Purdy that was released last week by KelloggsUS. She has teamed up with the company to help donate food to children in need, utilizing the hashtag #GreatStartsAmy. There are 10 other athletes who are part of the campaign as well, and each like, share, pin, tweet, or watch provides one breakfast to a child.

http://youtu.be/M7LtU_RZLZM

“Since losing my legs, I’ve found out that I am able to help other people by sharing how I’ve overcome my obstacles,” she told the Huffington Post. “This is a new, exciting movement that allows me to do that.”

To learn more about Purdy, follow her Team USA blog.

Image is a screenshot from video by KelloggsUS on YouTube