A woman who almost died after using a tampon has revealed the terrifying reason she lost her legs.
Lauren Wasser, a runway model who has featured in Vogue, experienced something no woman should even go through.
Having made a post on her Instagram about the 13th anniversary of losing her legs, and very nearly her life, Lauren explained the terrible condition that caused her life to drastically change.
She explained that she had used ‘a tampon correctly’, which led to her contracting a deadly disease.
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In a Vogue article, she explained that she was rushed to hospital ‘just hours from death’ in 2012 and was placed in a medically induced coma.
When she woke up in a Santa Monica hospital, she was ‘in excruciating pain’ and realised she had been ‘stripped’ of her identity.
At 24, she had been booking modelling jobs since she was two months old, due to being the daughter of two models, Pamela Cook and Robert Wasserburger.
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To her, her identity was deeply rooted in her beauty and body. But with the removal of her right leg at that time, and her left leg four years later, she had to overcome what this meant for her and her career.
“I had been found unresponsive at home, having suffered a fever of almost 42C, my kidneys failing. I had had two heart attacks and was given just a one per cent chance of survival,” she wrote.
“When I came round a week-and-a-half later, after being placed on life support, I was pumped full of fluid, I weighed 200 pounds, my hair was so matted that my head had been shaved, and my legs were black with gangrene.”
Three months later, she wheeled herself out of the hospital and struggled with what had been taken from her.
The only thing she had done was to use a tampon.
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Sadly, Laura, like many before her, developed with toxic shock syndrome (TSS)- a 'rare but life-threatening condition caused by an infection’.
The NHS states that TTS ‘can happen when using a tampon or menstrual cup, or from an infected wound’.
With symptoms commonly associated with the flu, it’s essential to seek medical help as soon as possible before the infection shuts down the body's internal organs.
It can include a high fever, shakes, a rash and high temperature.
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To avoid TSS, the NHS urges people to wash their hands and follow the instructions when using tampons, menstrual cups, contraceptive caps and diaphragms, and do not leave them in longer than needed or recommended.
They also remind people to keep cuts and burns clean, and look out for signs of infection, such as a rash, swelling or pain/
For Laura, eight months of physical and emotional agony after leaving the hospital made her reconsider her will to live.
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She struggled with her new body, the constant pain, and her thoughts on ever being able to ‘reclaim’ her life.
However, through her faith, she managed to power through and picked up her career with the help of prosthetic golden legs.
She wrote: “I have remained true to one simple core belief: that I’m just like anyone else. I can wear anything; I can do anything. The one difference? My legs are made of gold.”
Topics: Health, NHS, Women's Health
Britt Jones