DARLENE TAYLOR

Darlene Taylor spent 5 years fighting amputation. She fought hard to keep her legs, but in the end diabetes, the disease she has been suffering from since the age of 13, took its toll. In 1995 she lost her left leg. In 1997 she became a bilateral below knee amputee.

We at Human Designs agree with Darlene that every person facing the idea of amputation should fight as hard as they can "to keep yourself whole" as Darlene puts it.

But sometimes the fight to save your leg results in losing your quality of life. 

Darlene made the difficult choice in 1995 to proceed with her first amputation. Prior to that, she had spent a total of 175 days, and 22 trips to the hospital trying to save her left leg. She had innumerable casts, walking braces, skin grafts and metal fixators as well as spending a great deal of time receiving intravenous antibiotics to fight the infection affecting her foot and leg. Yet despite the valiant effort to save her leg, the infection was making her ill and weak. She spent most of her time in bed or in a wheelchair. Finally she was forced to have her left leg amputated because the infection was literally killing her.

Her recovery went well. With the infection now gone from her body she moved on to prosthetic care. Things went so smoothly that when the time came to make the decision to have her right leg amputated, it was a much easier choice.

Today, Darlene is able to continue her life as before. She says she has a very few physical limitations as a result of the amputations. She says her balance isn't as good as before and although to outsiders she appears to walk normally, her gait (movement during walking) isn't as fluid as before the amputations, yet she continues to enjoy her life and participate in many activities. She likes to walk her dog in morning around her neighborhood. She likes to garden and she is very active in her church. She loves to cook and entertain, spending the summers with friends and barbecuing.

Human Designs has helped Darlene to get her life back. Instead of spending time in wheelchairs or beds, Darlene is an active member of her family and community. Darlene is fit with bilateral endoskeletal prosthesis with shuttle-lock gel liners and dynamic Seattle feet.

We at Human Designs admire our patients for the difficult choices they are faced with. It is our job to make those choices the right ones.