One-Legged and Resilient

One host, one leg, lots of stories. My name is Cheyenne Heflin. I was diagnosed in 2012 with osteosarcoma, and elected for an amputation to save my life. Now – with cancer far behind me – I hope to explore what comes after pediatric cancer. “The Confiscated Leg” is an ode to the happenings of “after”: from the super serious topics like post-treatment trauma; to some of my favorite amputee jokes from over the years; and my thoughts about where life my has been, and where it will go from here. That there are many more “afters”, after pediatric cancer.

One of the biggest, most prominent things I had to deal with throughout and after my cancer treatment, were the reactions other people had to my situation. There was everything from insecurities about my appearance, which every teenager has, to concerns that other’s might treat me badly because I was now disabled. In this episode, I’m taking you through some of the most common experiences I’ve had dealing with other people as pediatric cancer kid and as an amputee. We’ll talk about how I and my family adjusted to the sight of my residual limb and prosthetic leg, how other people tended to react to my openness about my disability, as well as some of the less than pleasant situations I’ve found myself in as a young, disabled person.

— Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theconfiscatedleg/message