C.C. Young’s Center for Arts and Education, known as The Point, recently headlined a special guest speaker.

June 23rd found Jennifer Griffin, founder of P.L.A.Y. (Positive Living for Active Youth) headlining at The Point's ongoing series known as Body, Mind & Spirit.

Griffin spent the evening with a crowd of about 150 people, both residents and guests, charming the audience with her lecture, "No Limb-its: Stories of Spirit, Humor and Love."

Griffin founded P.L.A.Y. after recovering from the loss of her limbs - both her hands and both her legs below the knees. Daunting, no doubt, and most worthy of a speaking engagement sharing her triumphs and tribulations.

What makes Jennifer and P.L.A.Y. so special is their raison d'être: to empower America’s amputee youth by awarding specialized grants that focus on athletics, education and the arts. A far more ambitious goal than just the telling of life experience.

Jennifer’s difficult and unique journey began in March of 2007 with what she thought was a stomach infection. It turns out the infection was sepsis, a severe illness in which the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria. The sepsis raged through her body, causing all her organs to shut down and sending her into a coma. Consequently, no blood was able to reach her extremities.

Even after undergoing numerous surgeries, by the end of April, Jennifer’s team of Medical City physicians realized that amputation was the only way for her to survive. She left the hospital a quad-amputee just prior to her 35th birthday.

However, her spirit was whole, as was her drive and tenacity.

With strong family support, including her mother and other family members routinely making the drive to Dallas from their homes in Kansas City to help, Jennifer expedited her recovery time from several months to only 2 ½ weeks.

And with strong community support, in the form of H. Ross Perot, Jennifer received her first set of prosthetics.

According to Sharon Holman, who’s been with Perot since 1969 and handles special projects for him, Jennifer’s story traveled through channels from the legal department where she had previously worked to Holman’s ear.

"Mr. Perot is very involved with military personnel who have lost limbs," says Holman. "When I sent him the information about Jennifer, he said, ‘Get me her phone number!’"

"He was so excited to become involved with Jennifer - he was really charmed by her. Next thing I knew, Mr. Perot was in my office, telling me he just up and visited with Jennifer and her mother Marilyn. He said, ‘Let’s help this girl.’"

"From there we were on a plane to St. Louis to visit with the top prosthetics doctor."

Not only did that generosity impel Jennifer to push herself to recover, get out of the hospital, and get home to her family, it inspired her to create P.L.A.Y, just a little over a year after such a life changing event.

It was a very determined woman who spoke of her experience during last week's speech, with a no-holds-barred passion, and sometimes tearing up. But the tears, while sincere, were short lived. Her focus was consistent and her audience was rapt.

"Once I started rehab, I began to really feel back in control of my life," says Jennifer. "I had a spiritual revelation."

"I realized that sometimes obstacles may change your dreams, but then those dreams become bigger than yourself. Someone else had a dream for me, and it’s taken on a life of its own. This has been such a journey!"