By: Kyle James | 12-18-2017 | News
Photo credit: news.com.au

Model Speaks Out After Losing Leg From Tampon

Model Lauren Wasser revealed the 'hell' she went through after having her leg amputated due to toxic shock syndrome she contracted from a tampon.

<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/4315d678e7867fa76c64ed4ebaed4d46ee2325d99f505d165b8d58af5c8854e1.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">

<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Credit: Lauren Wasser | Instagram</span>

Wasser grew up surrounded by models and living a lifestyle that most girls would envy, but in 2012 she lost her right leg after nearly dying from Toxic Shock Syndrome. Since then, the 28-year-old model's career has taken off and she is warning other girls of the dangers of TSS.

On a day just like any other in 2012, Wasser went to the store to buy some tampons but when shortly after putting one in she became very ill. Suspecting it was the flu, she lay in bed thinking about a party later that night with her friends.

Wasser said, "I was deciding if I was even going to make it because I was feeling worse and worse as the day went on. Just flu-like symptoms, I was feeling nauseous and my head was pounding. All I wanted to do was get into bed."

"The next thing I remember was my blind Cocker Spaniel barking and pounding on my chest," she said. "I came to and I could just hear pounding on the door and someone saying ‘police, police, open up’. I was so confused and thinking ‘why are the police here’."

"The police officer came in and he told me I really needed to call my mum because she is really worried about me. I took myself back to my bed and plugged my phone in to call my mum."

Worried about her daughter, Wasser's mother asked if she needed an ambulance but she responded that she only wanted to rest and her mother agreed to check on her in the morning.

"My mum never heard from me, she called for another while to check, called all my girlfriends to go to my apartment and was in her way," she said. "She called the police and they came round, it took them 30 minutes to get through my front door and then found me on my bedroom floor face down."

"I had a 107F fever, my kidneys were failing, I had a heart attack. Thank god there was an infectious disease doctor there [at the hospital] because as soon as they found me I was plummeting so bad they couldn’t understand why a healthy, young 24-year-old like me was dying," Wasser continued.

"They called the specialist down and he checked if I had a tampon in. As soon as they located it got sent to the lab and it came back as TSS and as soon as they removed it I started being more receptive to treatment."

"They were telling my mum and my godfather to start preparing my funeral because there was no way I was walking out of there — it would have been a miracle."

Doctors put Wasser in a medically induced coma and gave her several blood transfusions while pumping her full of fluids to flush out the toxins. The first time she heard she would need an amputation was when she overheard a nurse say it while she lay in her hospital bed.

"I remember her speaking to someone saying ‘I have a 24-year-old girl here who is going to need a right leg below the knee amputation."

Wasser continued, "I knew my legs were not good but I just couldn’t … hearing those words come out of her mouth and being by myself, it was so surreal. I just kept crying and screaming and wanting my mum."

She would go on to sign the papers that allowed doctors to remove her leg which was ultimately a choice between life and death.

"I don’t think there is really anything you can do in that situation other than try and be strong," Wasser said.

"They write ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on your legs, like ‘yes, this is the one that is going’ and ‘no, this is the one we are keeping’. To see that visually on your leg and seeing my mum kissing my leg knowing that that’s the last time, it was crazy."

"It was f** hell."

Wasser has since been involved in multiple modeling gigs with a gold prosthetic leg and has been an avid teacher of the dangers of TSS. She also campaigns for more research into the use of tampons and the potential dangers they pose for women.

<i>On Twitter:</i>

<a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction">@ErvinProduction</a>

Tips? Info? Send me a message!

Source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/model-lauren-wasser-reveals-hell-of-having-her-leg-amputated-after-contracting-toxic-shock-syndrome/news-story/aac3d51db31fd33d7146274b009ddbf2

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3 Comment/s
lynn No. 14185 2017-12-18 : 06:18

oh wow oh wow thank god u lived hun.. so sad but happy that u are ok when i was a teen i tryed tampons but just could were them every time i tryed i would get sick and so i just stoped useing them because they would also hurt really bad.. so for me it was just a pad after that..

Anonymous No. 14188 2017-12-18 : 08:50

This story sends chills down my spine. If she said yes to the first ambulance everything would have been ok.

Anonymous No. 14193 2017-12-18 : 10:46

Toxic Shock Syndrome from what we already knew in the late 90's it was basically failing to change the super-absorbent tampons out frequently. Thus allowing bacteria to build up.

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