Let’s get past this “Elephant in the Room.” No, I am NOT a Blonde!
Some people refer to me as “A Woman of Steel.” First I have a microprocessor knee costing about $20,000. This one has to be plugged into a wall but the one that I am wearing runs off of this small, rechargeable camera battery. 
While my amputation was a birth defect, I got diabetes when I was 16 years old. I took up to five injections a day and 15 years ago I got my first insulin pump. This particular one runs on a AAA battery but the one that I am wearing hooks up to my computer to charge and downloads all of my blood sugars and insulin intake
onto my computer so that I can track my progress. Finally, almost a year ago I had to have a spinal cord stimulator implanted for pain relief. This is my rechargeable battery and it is implanted into my right hip with leads going up into my spine, sending signals to help moderate the pain. Now, all of you can see I have “embraced technology”!
Some of you might be overwhelmed and say you could never do all of this. You are SO wrong! You have the strength if you just reach down to see you have it stored and there are people who helped you to get where you are today. The main people in my life were my parents.
When I was born they took me to doctors all over the country and many offering no hope. My parents took me to a doctor who was in the forefront of surgeries for my particular birth defect. The doctor recommended certain surgeries that would allow me to walk with a prosthesis. Right away he fit me with a small prosthesis and at 10 months old my parents put the leg on and I walked.
My father, said that the most difficult day of his life was when they drove two hours to the hospital and as he was holding me the orderly came to take me in for the surgery to amputate my foot. He said that I cried and with outstretched arms as if to say, “Please don’t let them do this!”
That is the same father who gave me the strength and tenacity to learn to ride a two-wheeled bike at five, roller skate and climb trees. My parents allowed me to grow up just as they had raised my two sisters. Falling down and getting up.
I realize now that when my father was teaching me to ride a two wheeled bicycle he ran down the street behind me. Teaching and letting go is what parenting is all about. It is what I needed to learn that although he was behind me he was teaching me about going forward, on my own.
I thought it normal that I got new legs all of the time. I wasn’t thinking that other kids my age weren’t doing the same. I used to get a new leg often and as a child I grew quickly. They were always lengthening my legs and re-laminating them in the process so they would look clean and shiny. The problem was that I was a precocious child and as soon as I would get home with a new leg I would rush out of the car to the most glorious tree could find. I rushed up that tree like any other kid climbing a tree. Now, most parents would have panicked but not mine. Even though I came down the tree dirty and scratched up, my parents smiled at the fact I had conquered another challenge.
Just like that tree, when cut open you see rings of growth. Mine were on the exterior and the growth rings on my leg were the many scratches that I wore proudly.
I have worked daily to practice what my parents taught. I do get frustrated and forget sometimes. This happened a little over a year ago when my mother and best friend died. She was 94 living with my husband and I for years. My Mom was an incredible woman to the end. Last year I mourned her loss every day. I couldn’t talk about her without tears.
Last year was my first surgery without my Mom. I lost a good bit of weight so I had to have new sockets made for my leg – about 5 in all. In September my insulin pump broke and I had to deal with insurance companies and pump companies trying to find the best and right one for me. I felt as though I was not accomplishing my goals. It took almost all of last year to deal with my Mom’s death and get my own life and health back.
I thought of last year as lost time but after speaking to others I realized that I was using what my parents taught me. Tenacity, strength and that never give up attitude would be what got me through everything.
I stand on the shoulders of so many who have helped me. Most importantly my husband of almost 25 years and so many “teachers” and friends I can’t even number. I don’t know how I could have done it without everyone behind me but what I do know is that those two, my parents will always be behind me, pushing me to do more and do it better because that is what I owe them. I owe them everything.
Being “A Woman of Steel” is not about having steel body parts. It is about believing in ourselves. Being “A Woman of Steel” is about having mental strength to keep pursuing our dreams while others are telling you to, “Just give up.” Everyone here has the capacity to be a “Person of Steel”
Winnie the Pooh says that, “There is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”
Thanks Mom and Dad!