I think there is a big difference in people that have to grow up as an amputee versus people that become amputees later in life. I can not imagine losing a limb right now and having to cope with that loss and the adjust to life without said limb. I have always been the way I am and this is all I have know. I know it would be so much harder to have to learn to adjust as an adult versus learning to adjust through childhood. There are things in life that are beyond our control, and some of those things change our physical appearance. It may be treatment for cancer that leaves someone without hair, or someone losing a hand from a fishing accident. I personally know people that have gone through both, and I can’t imagine what that must be like to have to adjust to. I know that I have been “adjusting” to way I look physically for almost 35 years now, and I have learned a few things in that process. The main thing I have learned is that some things I just can’t change, and the quicker I make peace with those things and move on the better off I am. I know that is way easier said than done sometimes though.

A perfect example of what I am trying to say is Roger Ebert. If you have seen anything in the news on him lately you know that he has gone through a series of surgeries due to cancer and his physical appearance has change because of it. he was recently on Oprah and said something that I really loved. Even after all he has gone through, the change in his physical appearance, and not being able to speak or eat or drink, this is his outlook on life. I love it!

“Nobody looks perfect. We have to find peace with the way we look and get on with life,”