Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought I would bring back a blog post from last May that still rings true in so many ways. We all need a little help at one point or another and there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of if you are in that place right now. Please know you are not alone and help is just a phone call away. The national suicide prevention hotline is only three digits- 988…

I make a lot of leg jokes. Actually, I make a lot of jokes in general. I believe that laughter is the best medicine, and although I don't typically struggle to find my way to a really good belly laugh, I do have moments where nothing feels funny at all. Sometimes the blues take over, and everything feels clouded over by a haze of midnight darkness, like I can't turn the lights back on. Despite knowing that managing my mental health is a lifetime commitment, filled with therapist appointments, affirmations, and a great support system, sometimes I need a little bandaid to help in the healing process so I can carry on living my best life…

Disney World "The most magical place on earth" Every kid dreams of going, and every parent dreams of being able to afford the tickets. But what if you or your child is disabled? What kind of experience can you expect? …

I’ve always had incredibly vivid dreams. So much so that, as a kid, I kept a notebook on my nightstand so I could wake up and write about the wildest ones. There were labyrinths and dream boyfriends before there were real boyfriends. And then there was that one time I had a nightmare that Robert De Niro was scratching my bedroom window. It turns out it was just bougainvillea thorns swaying in the wind. So when I lost my leg, I wondered if my dreams would be any different. Would I have one leg or two? Or would I become some superhero that hovered over the ground and had no need for limbs at all? …

After losing The Great Verified Fan Ticketmaster War back in November, Karma stepped in just when I needed her and took me to The Eras Tour, and It was every bit as sparkling and bejeweled as I hoped it would be…

When the road gets bumpy because it inevitably will, where do you turn? What helps you keep moving one real or fake foot in front of the other? Have you found your North Star yet? The one that guides you when all the lights in your world go out. If you've ever looked in the mirror and lost your damn mind, you know sometimes we don't even need outside sources to sabotage our path. We can do it all on our own…

Exactly nine years ago, I was a newly diagnosed Osteosarcoma patient being wheeled into the OR for a limb salvage surgery meant to save both my leg and my life. I cried so hard in pre-op that I needed extra sedatives. Then my arms were tied down to the OR table while I was still alert enough to feel some serious panic - If you're claustrophobic, you understand. What followed was the longest two weeks of my life. For much of that time, my pain was only controlled with Dilaudid, a medication 2-8 times stronger than morphine. My wound became infected, my margins weren't clean, and I missed my best friend's wedding. Looking back, I hardly recognize the person I was at that moment, a shell of the woman I am today. Not because I was sick but because I felt so hopeless, so afraid…

Despite more than two million Americans living with limb loss, assumptions stemming from misinformation make up most of what the average person knows. Below are a few things the limb loss community would like you to stop assuming. Pretty please with a cherry on top…

What's the scariest thing you've done? I drove a car with my left leg and it felt just as strange as it sounds. I'll never forget how easily my surgeon shrugged his shoulders and said "sure" when I asked him if I would still be able to drive after my amputation. What he failed to mention is that it would require completely rewiring my brain and possibly even my car…

International women's day was just last week, and it made me reflect on how being a woman with a disability makes it impossible to ignore all the ways in which we are treated differently. Aside from the obvious pay gaps and work opportunity disparages that exist both for women and people living with disabilities, there is a clear divide in the way outsiders behave and react toward disabled women. I have, and forever will be, a hot pink-wearing, Shania Twain-singing, girly girl, but at what point do we stop allowing people to treat us like second-class citizens because of our gender, dress, and disability?…

Every week, I sit down and type the words that swirl in my mind after limb loss and cancer. All of my struggles, achievements, fears, and the scanxiety that lies dormant only to emerge every three months like some bad seasonal flu. Then I click publish and hope that it all reaches someone who needs it because otherwise, I’m standing on a stage naked for no reason. Exposing myself to strangers with my insecurities on the outside. Does it feel weird as an inherently private person to have people I’ve never met know so many details about my life? YES. It’s still a strange feeling, but I’ve learned to do all kinds of things that make me uncomfortable over the last three-plus years, and I wouldn’t trade my new strength for anything…

Let's say you meet someone new on a day when you happen to be wearing pants. Your prosthesis isn't visible, and there is no outward sign that would indicate you are an amputee. Do you casually mention it in conversation? Do you say nothing? Are you having a mini meltdown in your brain, hoping this isn't going to be a jump scare moment where your prosthesis falls off in front of them before you have the chance to explain you wear a fake leg? At what point, if at any, do you feel it's necessary to provide an "amputee disclosure"? …