At age 24, Lauren Wasser was living the dream; the 5’11” model was an LA star on the rise, had appeared in Italian Vogue, and was enjoying the flashy social scene of Santa Monica.
She told Vice: "Everything was based on looks. I was that girl, and I didn't even think about it."
But her life changed dramatically in October 2012.
She woke up feeling a little under the weather, but put it down to coming down with the flu.
Lauren, who was on her period, felt steadily worse all day, and eventually fell into bed after being told she looked “horrible” by friends.
They later found her facedown on the floor with a temperature of 107 degrees and rushed her to hospital - just ten minutes from death.
She had suffered a massive heart attack and her internal organs were all shutting down, but doctors eventually managed to stabilise her.
After running tests on her tampon, which Lara says she had regularly changed three to four times a day, as specified, they diagnosed her with Toxic Shock Syndrome.
The bacterial infection resulted in multiple health complications, including gangrene, severe damage to her left foot, and a below-the-knee amputation of her right leg.
Lauren said: "I wanted to kill myself when I got home.
"All of a sudden I don't have a leg, I'm in a wheelchair, I have half a foot, I can't even walk to the bathroom. I'm in a bed, I can't move, and I felt like those four walls were my prison."
She added: “You live your whole life and thinking, ‘I’m an athlete,’ or, ‘I’m a pretty girl,’ but this was something physical that I had no control over. It took me a while to figure out if I was still worthy, if I was still pretty.”
Now Lauren is suing the manufacturer of the tampons she used, insisting she wants tampons to be marketed with bigger, clearing warning about potential risks.
“You know cigarettes can kill you, so when you use them, it’s your choice,” she said.
“Had I known all the info about TSS, I would have never used tampons.”
She is also campaigning for experts to begin research into the dangerous materials used in tampons and other feminine hygiene projects.
But, most importantly of all, Lauren is bravely sharing her story to help other women out there to understand the realities of Toxic Shock Syndrome.
With a human face to put to the little spoken about disease, maybe cases like these can be avoided in the future.
How to Avoid TSS: