How Lauren Wasser, the Model With Golden Legs, Made a Triumphant Return | Vogue

[Music] I'm Laurin wasser I'm a TSS survivor and I am the girl with the golden legs I grew up with model parents I always was on set I always was following my mom around you know Paris New York London living the life two peas in a pod pretty much I just was always in the business I played basketball my whole life and I actually thought I wasn't good at WNBA if you can believe that that's kind of like my goal in life so a pair of heels or a pair of Jordans I was 24 years old active healthy my period was really heavy so I would use super absorbent tampons it was just a normal day in October and I'm sort of feeling a little off like something that just ran me over and when they found me I was facedown on my bedroom floor they rushed me to st. John's and they found the tampon they sent it to the lab and as soon as it came back came back as TSS one just toxic shock syndrome they basically gave me a one percent chance of survival and told my mom to prepare my funeral I was in a medically induced coma for a week and a half I woke up and I just remember my feet being excruciatingly gangrene was setting into my leg and they amputated my right leg below the knee I eventually made the decision to amputate my second leg because the damage was just too severe this is the first leg that was the gold one that I made gold that I shared with the world I'm really excited about going to New York City Fashion Week but this new me with my new set of gold legs the first moment I walked with the brand chrome at I was using a suction socket which means it's just held on by the suction and liner as I was walking I could feel the leg slipping and my head I was like can't have the gold leg falling on my way like you gotta keep it going so it worked out amazing but has a little incident and kind of have to make it work the nerves are what are exciting I think clothes tell a lot about a person I think what you choose to put on in the morning affects your day I love mixing it up between secondhand and coochie and Givenchy and kind of making a mix can't beat five dollar glasses I think that's the fun part about fashion is because everything can mix and match and you create your own piece pretty much that's why we love it when this first happened I was definitely my own prison I was wearing the hoodies and sweatpants hiding the fact they didn't have a leg I look cool I look like a warrior I look like I just went do some crazy stuff and I survived so I just landed in New York City I'm so excited to be here just the air of New York City speaks a lot a lot is happening a lot of casting a lot of meetings I'm meeting with the congresswoman and you can hang some butt they usually when I go to casting they just put on like a little bit makeup gotta have the lip gloss it's very important chapstick actually in my loved ones and little mascara I feel good I feel ready to go I feel like I can take on the world in a business that is so perfect all the time and beauty is only shown in one way to be able to throw myself in the mix and kind of stir the pot a little bit I think it's cool and it's not as an opportunity to highlight people in similar situations like myself who have never been publicized especially in the fashion world the little girls that I've just met in last two three years that unfortunately have been victims of TSS who have lost toes and are on dialysis those are the girls that I live for toxic shock syndrome has been an epidemic for over 30 years before I was even born once I found that out a fire just like lit in my heart I linked up with congresswoman out of New York City her name was carolyn Maloney and she has been trying to pass a go for almost a decade named after a woman who died of toxic shock syndrome inmates in 88 it's called the Robin ganesan act and it's basically just for us women to know what's going in our feminine hygiene products what my bill does it requires the the National Institute of Health to keep data on how many people are stricken with it how many people died with it and to do research on what is in tampons we have done more research on coffee filters than we've done on a tampon we need to force government to collect the data but of all the bills that I've worked on it's been most difficult to pass bills that affect women who knows how many women have been affected in lost their lives and haven't been able to use their voice or speak about it we're gonna do this together we're in for the long run grace my favorite thing that's happened this whole trip really to be honest is meeting with the congresswoman because that was too long of a wait and we finally did it and it's so awesome and she's so awesome and I feel like that's really gonna get distinct pumping and get some motion so mission accomplished well not the biggest thing I've taken away from my whole experience on just why this trip there's been but I think just trusting the process believing in yourself believing in your journey things that you maybe want to do or achieve it's possible you just gotta keep the fire alive [Music] [Music] this passion we were super important because I'm finally just showing up showing everyone that I'm here and I'm ready to go I'm pain free I'm excited to fight I'm excited to change the world I'm excited to just be me again and hopefully do some good [Music] you

Channel: Vogue

Views: 19,659,147

Rating: 4.9123902 out of 5

Keywords: amputee, model, models, runway model, model walk, disabled model, lauren wasser, lauren wasser model, lauren wasser legs, golden legs, amputated legs, lauren wasser modeling, lauren wasser runway, lauren wasser runway walk, lauren wasser toxic shock, toxic shock syndrome, toxic shock, runway model walk, lauren wasser vogue, amputated model, model amputation, model amputated legs, model legs, modeling, lauren wasser story, tss, tss model, gold legs, vogue

Id: V6BC_S3mUJM

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 14 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/FMN2014]

Here's an article with some more details on Lauren, she lost her legs due to toxic shock syndrome from wearing a tampon.

Pretty mental that can happen.

[u/[deleted]]

Fuck that sucks. Im glad my wife uses a diva cup. I didnt realize that some legs were held on by suction.