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ParalympianAmy Purdycalled on her “prayer warriors” this weekend when she revealed a “simple mechanical issue” with her prosthetic was actually a serious medical condition that has now left her with a heartwrenching decision to make.
The 39-year-old snowboarding champion — who experienced bacterial meningitis and lost her legs below the knees when she was 19 years old — was recently diagnosed with a “massive” blood clot after she felt pain in her left leg.
The blood clot stretches from her hip to the bottom of her left leg, she explained, and likely developed due to how often she uses her prosthetics, which can amount to 12 to 18 hours a day.
A representative for the snowboarder did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
While there are a number of means to treat a clot, such as blood thinners, compression stockings and surgery, according toCleveland Clinic, Purdy said her previous kidney transplant and an allergy to shellfish are keeping doctors from going through with an operation as of yet.
“To complicate things even more I have a kidney transplant & a severe shellfish allergy which are both contraindicated in the procedures they do to fix these types of things,” Purdy wrote of the potential complications. “The contrast dye in the procedures can injure my healthy transplanted kidney which has been the biggest gift of my life and health. So there’s the risk that to try to save my leg, we are risking my kidney.”
Purdy received her transplant from her father in 2000, a year after she experienced kidney failure as a result of Meningococcal Meningitis, she explained in a previousblog post.
Now, she has to choose between keeping that life-saving kidney, or losing what’s left of her left leg.
“My kidney or my leg,” she said. “That basically is the decision I have been given over this last day after entering the hospital with sudden pain in my calf.”
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Despite all that she has overcome, Purdy says she is now “more scared” than she has ever been.
“Staying positive doesn’t seem as easy this time,” she admitted. “I’ve cried from the depths of my soul over the last two days & I’m sure my husband has seen a side of me he never wants to see again.”
“We are exploring every option & resources we have to be able to keep my kidney & my leg healthy,” Purdy said. “Please send any extra love, prayers and thoughts this way… I could use them!”
Outside of snowboarding, Purdy is involved with non-profits, does motivational speaking and has even appeared onDancing with theStars.
source: people.com
