BOSTON — When professional ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis lost her left leg below the knee as a spectator at the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, a doctor gave her one in a million chances of ever dancing again.

Haslet-Davis said she threw her finger in the air and declared, “if my chances are one in a million, I will be that one” by beating the medical odds.

Three years later, Haslet-Davis is dancing professionally again, appearing on the ABC television program “Dancing With the Stars” among other gigs.

On Monday, she will run the 120th Boston Marathon, not just for herself, but to raise money for the Limbs for Life Foundation,  an Oklahoma-based organization that provides life-changing prosthetics for amputees in need.

“One of the giant lessons I learned is when someone tells you something can’t be done, it’s more of a reflection of their limitations, and not yours,” said Haslet-Davis

It’s one of many life lessons Haslet-Davis imparts in public appearances and speaking engagements, including Tuesday night at the Methuen, Massachusetts, Rotary Club’s sixth annual Celebration of Achievement Banquet. She was honored for exemplifying service above self.

Haslet-Davis told about the chaos near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon when two backpack bombs exploded, how she was fortunate to survive, that her recovery was championed by Dr. Jeffrey Kalish of the Boston Medical Center, and that she learned to “celebrate the small things” and to “push past those comfort zones and dream big.”

Haslet-Davis’s said her big dream began to take shape when she received a special carbon-fiber blade, the flexible leg amputees use to run. She’d gotten it to help with her dancing, but after realizing it would get tangled in her partner’s feet, she turned to a more conventional prosthetic for dancing.

At first, she said she considered giving the blade away, then she decided to use it for running, and her dream of striding in the Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon, took flight.

It was a challenge. The blade is longer than a regular leg due to its mechanics, and to use it, you “have to walk like a flamingo,” said Haslet-Davis.

Instead of shying from the task, however, she rose to it, and learned that she really enjoyed running. At first she trained quietly, then announced herself ready to run for the Limbs for Life Foundation in the Boston Marathon.

Haslet-Davis’ resilience and public appearances have inspired  others who face adversity in life. That’s a reward she cherishes, describing it as important to her purpose in life.

Her Facebook page features this quotation:  “I refuse to be called a victim. I am not defined by what happened in my life. I am a survivor, defined by how I live my life.”

Lisa Kashinsky is a reporter for The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass.