If your life were a book

而你是作者，

and you were the author,

你希望故事如何發展？

how would you want your story to go?

這個問題改變了我的一生。

That's the question that changed my life forever.

在炎熱的拉斯維加斯沙漠長大的我，

Growing up in the hot Last Vegas desert,

唯一想要的就是自由。

all I wanted was to be free.

我會想像自己去環遊世界，

I would daydream about traveling the world,

住在下雪的地方，

living in a place where it snowed,

我會編織各種故事，

and I would picture all of the stories

在日後娓娓道來。

that I would go on to tell.

我在 19 歲從高中畢業的隔天，

At the age of 19,

搬到一個會下雪的地方，

the day after I graduated high school,

開始當起按摩師。

I moved to a place where it snowed

做這份工作，

and I became a massage therapist.

我只需要有雙手和按摩桌在身邊，

With this job all I needed were my hands

就能去任何地方。

and my massage table by my side

那是我生命中第一次

and I could go anywhere.

感到自由、獨立，

For the first time in my life,

並且完全掌控自己的生活。

I felt free, independent

直到我的生命出現轉折。

and completely in control of my life.

有天我提早收工回家，

That is, until my life took a detour.

原以為自己染上流感，

I went home from work early one day

結果不到 24 小時，

with what I thought was the flu,

我就住進醫院，

and less than 24 hours later

裝上維生系統，

I was in the hospital

只有不到 2% 的存活率。

on life support

幾天後，

with less than a two percent chance of living.

我就全身癱瘓，

It wasn't until days later

醫生診斷我罹患了

as I lay in a coma

細菌性腦膜炎，

that the doctors diagnosed me

一種能靠注射疫苗預防的血液感染。

with bacterial meningitis,

經過兩個半月的療程，

a vaccine-preventable blood infection.

我喪失了脾臟和腎臟，

Over the course of two and a half months

還有左耳聽力，

I lost my spleen, my kidneys,

雙腳膝蓋以下也截肢了。

the hearing in my left ear

父母用輪椅將我推出醫院時，

and both of my legs below the knee.

我感覺自己像是用碎片

When my parents wheeled me out of the hospital

拼湊而成的娃娃。

I felt like I had been pieced back together

我以為最糟的情況已經結束了，

like a patchwork doll.

但幾週後我第一次看到自己的雙腳，

I thought the worst was over

才發現並非如此。

until weeks later when I saw my new legs

小腿變成又粗又重的金屬塊，

for the first time.

跟管子和腳踝拴在一起，

The calves were bulky blocks of metal

還有個泛黃的橡膠腳，

with pipes bolted together for the ankles

上面有條突起的橡膠線 從腳趾延伸至腳踝，

and a yellow rubber foot

為了看起來像條血管。

with a raised rubber line from the toe to the ankle

我不知道未來會發生什麼事，

to look like a vein.

但我沒想到會發生這種事。

I didn't know what to expect,

我媽在我身旁，

but I wasn't expecting that.

淚水從我倆的臉龐落下，

With my mom by my side

我綁上這雙粗重的腳，

and tears streaming down our faces,

站起身來。

I strapped on these chunky legs

如此劇烈的疼痛和緊繃

and I stood up.

讓我不得不想，

They were so painful and so confining

我要怎麼戴著這些東西環遊世界？

that all I could think was,

我要怎麼繼續擁有

how am I ever going to travel the world

那個我從小就夢寐以求的，

in these things?

充滿冒險和故事的生活？

How was I ever going to live

我要怎麼再次站上滑雪板？

the life full of adventure and stories,

那天回到家後，我爬上床，

as I always wanted?

這是我之後幾個月的生活樣貌：

And how was I going to snowboard again?

渾渾噩噩，逃避現實，

That day, I went home, I crawled into bed

雙腳就放在一旁。

and this is what my life looked like

我的身心都已支離破碎。

for the next few months:

但我知道要向前邁進，

me passed out, escaping from reality,

就得放下以前的艾咪，

with my legs resting by my side.

學習擁抱新的艾咪。

I was absolutely physically and emotionally broken.

那一刻我才發現，

But I knew that in order to move forward,

我的身高不再得是一六五，

I had to let go of the old Amy

我想要多高就可以多高！

and learn to embrace the new Amy.

（笑聲）

And that is when it dawned on me

（掌聲）

that I didn't have to be five-foot-five anymore.

我也可以想要多矮就多矮， 看約會對象是誰再決定。

I could be as tall as I wanted!

（笑聲）

(Laughter) (Applause)

如果我再去滑雪，

Or as short as I wanted, depending on who I was dating.

腳就不會覺得冷了。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And if I snowboarded again,

最棒的是我想

my feet aren't going to get cold.

我可以把自己的腳做成

(Laughter)

鞋店特價區裡的鞋子尺寸。（笑聲）

And best of all, I thought,

我真的這麼做了！

I can make my feet the size of all the shoes

看來還是有點好處。

that are on the sales rack. (Laughter)

就在這個時刻我自問

And I did!

那個定義人生的問題：

So there were benefits here.

如果我的人生是一本書，

It was this moment that I asked myself

而我是作者，

that life-defining question:

我希望故事怎麼發展？

If my life were a book

我開始幻想。

and I were the author,

像我孩提時那樣，

how would I want the story to go?

想像自己

And I began to daydream.

優雅行進，

I daydreamed like I did as a little girl

用自己的歷程幫助別人，

and I imagined myself

並且再次滑雪。

walking gracefully,

我不是只看見自己

helping other people through my journey

割雪滑過山上的粉雪，

and snowboarding again.

我真的能感覺得到。

And I didn't just see myself

我可以感覺到吹拂在臉上的風，

carving down a mountain of powder,

還有飛快的心跳，

I could actually feel it.

就像身歷其境一般。

I could feel the wind against my face

那是我人生開啟新篇章的時刻。

and the beat of my racing heart

四個月後，我重新站上滑雪板，

as if it were happening in that very moment.

雖然情況不如想像中美好：

And that is when a new chapter in my life began.

我的膝蓋和腳踝無法彎曲，

Four months later I was back up on a snowboard,

一度在纜車上的滑雪客 心中留下陰影，

although things didn't go quite as expected:

因為我跌倒的時候，

My knees and my ankles wouldn't bend

雙腳還黏在滑雪板上，

and at one point I traumatized all the skiers on the chair lift

（笑聲）

when I fell and my legs,

整個飛下山嶺，

still attached to my snowboard —

身體卻還在山上。

(Laughter) —

我很驚訝，

went flying down the mountain,

就跟每個人一樣驚訝，我好挫折，

and I was on top of the mountain still.

但我知道如果能找到對的那雙腳，

I was so shocked,

我就能再次滑雪。

I was just as shocked as everybody else, and I was so discouraged,

就是這個時候，我了解到

but I knew that if I could find the right pair of feet

限制和阻礙只會影響兩件事：

that I would be able to do this again.

第一，終止我們的習慣，

And this is when I learned that our borders

第二，強迫我們發揮創意。

and our obstacles can only do two things:

我研究了一年，至今仍無法找出

one, stop us in our tracks

要用哪一種腳，

or two, force us to get creative.

無法找到任何能幫助我的資源。

I did a year of research, still couldn't figure out

因此我決定自己做一雙腳。

what kind of legs to use,

製腳師和我任意組裝零件，

couldn't find any resources that could help me.

最後完成了一雙讓我能滑雪的腳。

So I decided to make a pair myself.

你可以看到，

My leg maker and I put random parts together

生鏽的螺絲、橡皮、木頭和粉紅布膠帶。

and we made a pair of feet that I could snowboard in.

沒錯，我還能換不同的指甲油。

As you can see,

這些腳

rusted bolts, rubber, wood and neon pink duct tape.

和最棒的 21 歲生日禮物，

And yes, I can change my toenail polish.

也就是爸爸捐給我的一顆腎，

It was these legs

讓我能再次追尋我的夢想。

and the best 21st birthday gift I could ever receive —

我開始站上雪板滑雪，

a new kidney from my dad —

接著回去工作、回到校園。

that allowed me to follow my dreams again.

2005 年時我合夥創辦非營利組織，

I started snowboarding,

幫助有肢體障礙的青少年，

then I went back to work, then I went back to school.

讓他們能參與極限運動。

Then in 2005 I cofounded a nonprofit organization

我在那裡得到前往南非的機會，

for youth and young adults with physical disabilities

可以去幫助成千上萬名孩童 讓他們有鞋穿

so they could get involved with action sports.

好去上學。

From there, I had the opportunity to go to South Africa,

今年二月，

where I helped to put shoes on thousands of children's feet

我接連贏得兩面世界盃金牌，

so they could attend school.

（掌聲）

And just this past February,

這讓我成為

I won two back-to-back World Cup gold medals —

世界頂尖的女性身障滑雪板員。

(Applause) —

我 11 年前失去雙腳的時候，

which made me

完全沒想到會有這件事。

the highest ranked adaptive female snowboarder

但如果你今天問我，

in the world.

是否曾想過要改變處境，

Eleven years ago, when I lost my legs,

我會說不。

I had no idea what to expect.

因為我的雙腳從未讓我失能，

But if you ask me today,

反而賦予我能力。

if I would ever want to change my situation,

我的腳迫使我仰賴想像力，

I would have to say no.

讓我相信一切都有希望，

Because my legs haven't disabled me,

因此我相信

if anything they've enabled me.

我們的想像力能夠成為工具，

They've forced me to rely on my imagination

用來打破藩籬，

and to believe in the possibilities,

因為在我們心中，我們能做任何事，

and that's why I believe

能成為各種人。

that our imaginations can be used as tools

是因為相信那些夢想，

for breaking through borders,

正視迎面而來的恐懼，

because in our minds, we can do anything

讓每個人能活出自我，

and we can be anything.

超越極限。

It's believing in those dreams

雖然今天的主題是關於創新無界線，

and facing our fears head-on

但我得說在我的生活中

that allows us to live our lives

創新能實現

beyond our limits.

正是因為我的限制。

And although today is about innovation without borders,

我一直以為限制就是真正的盡頭，

I have to say that in my life,

但其實限制是想像力與故事的開端。

innovation has only been possible

今天我想挑戰你們的觀點就是

because of my borders.

與其把我們的挑戰和限制

I've learned that borders are where the actual ends,

視為某種負面或不好的事，

but also where the imagination

我們可以開始將這些事視為祝福，

and the story begins.

是能點燃想像力的珍貴禮物，

So the thought that I would like to challenge you with today

幫助我們不再畫地自限，走得更遠。

is that maybe instead of looking at our challenges and our limitations

這並不是指要打破限制，

as something negative or bad,

而是要跳脫限制，

we can begin to look at them as blessings,

看限制能帶我們到什麼好地方去。

magnificent gifts that can be used to ignite our imaginations

謝謝。

and help us go further than we ever knew we could go.

It's not about breaking down borders.

It's about pushing off of them

and seeing what amazing places

they might bring us.

Thank you.