Lauren Wasser

“The identity that I knew was completely stripped of me. I hid, and I hated life; I hated everything. The sun would bother me.”

“Because we are women, we have to fight for everything. We need to stick together.”

“I used to look at fashion from a superficial standpoint, and I can admit now that I wasn't so nice of a person.”

“My go-to fashion uniform would be shorts and some really cool sneakers.”

“It wasn't until my girlfriend, photographer Jennifer Rovero, took hundreds of pictures of me as I recovered from my amputations that things started to change. The process was a sort of therapy for me, which Jennifer coined as 'photo therapy.' I grew to see the beauty and strength in myself and my journey through the lens of her camera.”

“I want to educate women about the potential risks of using tampons.”

“I begged my mother to not allow them to take it. We did our best, but unfortunately, I had to lose my right leg.”

“My goal is to keep going and reach as far as possible to beat all odds placed before me.”

“I think getting rid of my leg was getting rid of the past and getting ready for my journey ahead.”

“Had I known toxic shock was real, and had I seen someone that had either lost limbs or spoke about it publicly, I would have never used tampons.”

“My legs were my life.”

“The future is going to be awesome!”

“The letters TSS that I once read in the fine print buried on the bottom of tampon boxes soon came to define me. TSS - Toxic Shock Syndrome: a potentially fatal complication of certain types of bacterial infections.”

“First and foremost, I loved basketball. My dad introduced me to basketball when I was a baby.”

“I stand not just for a disability, but I stand for women and women's rights.”

“Both my mom and dad were models.”

“I'm an athlete - my legs were everything. I had no idea what my life would be like without them.”

“I can do both of the things I love, which is raise awareness for TSS and work as a model to help change beauty standards. It was a win-win.”

“I just really love wearing shorts!”

“My left foot is severely damaged from TSS, and I'm probably going to have to amputate my left leg. I could be super depressed about it, but I have been given a second chance. I'm here, and I'm living.”