Shocking TRUE Story: “I Lost Both Of My Legs Because Of A Tampon” (Health Warning) - Lauren Wasser

This almost killed me, and it's killed hundreds and thousands of women. If men's were falling off, there would be a resolution tomorrow. Until something's done, I won't quit. (instrumental music plays) Lauren Wasser.

Model, activist, and survivor of one of the deadliest diseases...

Caused by a product millions of women use today, resulting in losing both of her legs. I'm the girl with the golden legs.

Lauren, October the 3rd, 2012. Can you take me to that day?

It was just on my period. It was super heavy, and I, I guess I must have passed out. They found me face down on my bedroom floor, toxic shock syndrome caused by a tampon, and I was 10 minutes from death. I had two heart attacks. My kidneys, my organs were failing. My feet were turning black. So when I finally woke up, they needed to amputate my right leg or I was gonna die. But they're telling me that, "We cannot give you any pain medicine." I have felt every single thing that was done to me. For those eight months, I was alone. Every day, I was throwing, screaming, crying, wanting to, like, think about ways I could kill myself. But there was something in my soul was like, "Don't pull the trigger." Just hold on."

Are you feeling a sense of injustice?

This shouldn't have happened, but there's nothing on the market for women that is safe for us. It kills us. This is my new beginning.

Lauren, what can be done?

That's the scary part.

I have to give you a warning. This conversation is not easy to listen to because it's so deeply moving, but it's important that you do. It's important that more people know about the risks that they face by the products they use every single day. And it's important that people hear Lauren Wasser's unimaginable story, a story that will change your mind, break your heart, and then put it back together again. Toxic shock syndrome is probably something you've never heard of before, but it can affect anyone at any time, men, women, and children of all ages. (instrumental music plays) Lauren, what do I need to know about your earliest years to understand how you were shaped, molded, the perspective that you inherited from that early context and environment?

I think the idea of perfection, the idea that physically looking like that 1% and being... I guess back then too, being a supermodel in the, the late '80s, '90s, that's kind of, like, the cool era. And that's kind of where me being around all of these women that were just flawless and beautiful, um, kind of set the tone. And also saw, like, you can get away with anything if you're beautiful as well, which was interesting to me. But I was the complete opposite. Like, I am a tomboy. I played basketball. That's my first love. That's where I, I think, really molded and shaped who I am as a person and why I, honestly, I think I'm alive. I think having to have the dedication, have the determination, but also, like, have to show up every single day and give it your all, um, was something that I didn't really see anywhere else. Like, my dad wasn't there. My dad, unfortunately, he was... He got caught up in the whole drug scene, um, complete drug addict. Um, basically saw him homeless on the side of the street when I was younger. Like, my mom and I would be driving down Melrose, and my dad, I would look out and be like, "Oh my God, that's my dad, like, on the side of the street," 'cause he's homeless.