• 2 years ago
JANI, from Cologne, Germany, has made the incredible decision to finally show the world her amputated leg through social media, after having a procedure known as a rotationplasty and keeping it hidden on social media for years. Jani was only nine when she felt an excruciating pain above her right knee while participating at a school sports class. Jani was rushed to hospital and informed by doctors that she had an aggressive and rare bone cancer, named Osteosarcoma, in her right leg. Her family made the difficult decision to have a rotationplasty, where the knee is removed and the lower leg and foot then turned 180 degrees before being reattached to the femur bone (where the knee once was) in effect becoming the new knee joint. Jani told Truly: 'I felt so out of place, it really looked like a horror movie that I had been through. I was shocked, I was definitely speechless and thinking about it makes me so sad'.

Although Jani accepted her new self, she felt like she had to hide her real leg and she always wore an artificial leg. She said: 'One time I felt very uncomfortable, I remember I was wearing hot pants, it was a summer day and I just noticed a woman from farther away and she just started screaming. From her facial expression, she was just so shocked about my artificial leg'. Jani spent many years concealing her leg but always knew deep down that she wasn't showing her real self.

Last year after an emergency surgery, Jani made the incredibly brave decision to stop hiding her leg from the world and started posting pictures of herself on social media without her artificial leg. She said: 'I received so many good things from my close friends, I was completely overwhelmed by the nice comments, it was almost too much'. Jani plans to keep uploading her pictures on Instagram in order to help people who are going through a rotationplasty process or Osteosarcoma. She added: 'One of the biggest lessons I have learnt for myself is to accept yourself'.

Follow Jani: https://www.instagram.com/rotation_amputee180/

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