Wafa Lavelle says her introduction to the Amputee Coalition and our National Conference changed her life.
“It was 1,400 amputees,” the Massachusetts woman, who was born in Jordan, told WCVB-5 in Boston. “I was so overwhelmed because I never saw another amputee at that time. It was my first time. That was in 2016. The whole four days I cried.”
Wafa has always shown strength and resilience. She was born with birth defects in 1960 and crawled for the first seven years of her life.
She underwent more than 60 surgeries, and an infection caused an amputation of her right leg.
Despite that, she went to school to become a hairstylist. She married and raised a family.
She said she had continuing problems with her prosthesis before she attended that National Conference.
Wafa told her story to the TV station to encourage other people with limb loss and limb difference. She is good at that.
“If we have a patient who’s struggling, we know that if Wafa meets with them they come out of that meeting together in a totally different mindset,” Jayne Drummey of the Hanger Clinic said.
The 2023 National Conference will be held August 2-5 at the Renaissance Orlando at Seaworld. Early bird rates are available through May 1.