My Amputation

When people notice my fake leg they often come right out and ask, “What happened to you?”. Here’s the story of my amputation!

I often come up with some crazy, exciting story like shark attack while surfing, or fought off a bear on a hike, but the truth is that many amputees have boring stories of unfortunate circumstances. My cause of amputation was congenital. Which just means, I was born with a birth defect. I hate this terminology, and would like to speak to whoever came up with it. Congenital always sounds like I’m talking about genitals, and defect? Am I some reject toy in the discount aisle at Target? Basically, yes, I was haha.

Because I was born in a small town in Russia with Clubfoot and Tibiahemimelia I was given up for adoption. Basically, my shin wasn’t growing, and my foot was extremely internally rotated. I also had 7 toes on my foot! You know those cute little foot prints your parents hold on to? Mine looks like an alien’s foot! I spent a couple years in an orphanage until my lovely Italian-American parents found me. They adopted me and brought me here to the U.S

We chose Shriner’s Hospital because they would support me beyond the amputation, and fit me with prostheses up until I turned 18! They removed the deformed foot, and walla! I became an amputee in 1996!