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Model Lauren Wasser Talks About Daily Battle After Losing Her Leg To Toxic Shock Syndrome

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Models are known for their exceptionally good and skinny physique, especially when it comes to women. However, their most sought-after trait is their long legs. When they walk the runway, it’s their legs that are making them wonderful no matter what they are wearing. Having such gorgeous legs is one of the most important things to have if you aim to be a model. Lauren Wasser is one of those models who is living such a fabulous life. Being a model, of course, has its amazing perks such as being able to travel and wear designer clothes for free, but an unfortunate event happened to Lauren Wasser that definitely changed her life.

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24-YEAR-OLD WASSER ON LOSING HER LEG

It happened five years ago, but it seems just like yesterday. Losing your leg as a person is already devastating enough, what more if you’re a model and an athlete at the same time. Laurent Wasser was only 24 when she lost her leg to Toxic Shock Syndrome. It happened in 2012 and it seemed just like a normal day for the model. She had her period so she got some tampons, but after putting it on, she immediately started feeling sick but didn’t mind since it was flu season and she also has her period that could be making it worse. That night, Wasser said that she even went to a party wherein her friends actually noticed how ill she was looking. Wasser was able to drive home and go straight to bed, but the next thing the model remembers is that her dog was barking crazy because there was someone knocking on her front door.

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Wasser said in an interview with InStyle that her mother called for a welfare check but couldn’t remember exactly what happened. Apparently, the young model was found on the floor unresponsive with a 108-degree fever when the cops went and checked on her again. She was immediately rushed to the nearest hospital. Wasser was then checked and when the doctors found that she has been wearing a tampon, they immediately had it for lab testing and was discovered that she has toxic shock syndrome. The medical experts even had to put the 24-year-old model into a medically induced coma because her organs were shut down. Lauren woke up a week later it all happened where she discovered that she gained 200 pounds because of all the fluids that were given to her while she was in a coma to be able to stabilize her blood pressure.

WASSER NEEDS TO HAVE HER OTHER LEG REMOVED AS WELL

In an interview with Washington Post, the young model reminisced about how she actually found out that her right leg needed to be amputated. Lauren said that it felt so surreal overhearing one of the nurses saying that she needed to have her leg removed below the knee. The model said that she had to scream and cry the entire time because her legs were everything to her. She didn’t just lose her right leg at that time, they also needed to remove her left foot, but it doesn’t just stop there. Every single day Lauren was just living in pain and her misery will continue because according to the model, her left leg needs to be amputated in the coming months and that it is something that is out of her control. Which is why she has been spreading awareness when it comes to risks of using tampons. Her misery has definitely turned her into someone that could influential young women like her to be more cautious when it comes to the products that they will use. Lauren has been posting on Instagram hoping to inspire other women, despite the pain she is currently in she believes that this is her purpose.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME

According to the medical director of the division of infectious disease, Dr. Paul Sax from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, women should actually be extremely careful because the toxic shock syndrome is a severe complication wherein the bacteria could make a toxin that the body wouldn’t be able to fight. It leads to extremely low blood pressure as well as organ failure and limb loss just like what happened to Wasser, some even die because of it.

Tampon use has got to be the most widely-known cause of TSS, which is basically what happened to Wasser. Tampons contain polyester foam that has carboxymethylcellulose back in the 1980s that was the main reason for the TSS risks, which is why companies nowadays are trying to make their tampons have lower absorbency. Dr. Sax explained that the early symptoms of TSS are extremely low blood pressure, severe flu, muscle aches, seizures, and headaches. TSS is actually treatable but only when if it is caught early, unlike what happened to Wasser.

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