Less Leg More Heart

Two weeks until the Gala.

Every ticket pays for something real. A ramp so someone can get into their own home. A care package in the first hard weeks. A gym membership that gets someone moving again.

Western theme, dinner, raffle, and a room full of people who get it.

The Castleton, Windham NH. October 16, 6 to 11 PM.

Grab a ticket or sponsor a table: https://www.lesslegmoreheart.com/events/annual-gala-western-theme

Can't make it? You can still give: https://www.lesslegmoreheart.com/donate

What is one thing you wish someone had told you about pain before your amputation?

Next Thursday, we're bringing our amputee community together for an honest conversation about something many experience but don't always talk about openly: pain after limb loss.

From post-surgical pain and phantom sensations to residual-limb pain, prosthetic discomfort, chronic pain, and the emotional toll that can come with it, this month's Heart to Heart is about sharing the experiences that are not always easy to explain.

There will be no formal speaker or lecture. Just real amputees sharing real experiences, listening, and learning from one another.

Whether you're newly amputated, years into your journey, preparing for an amputation, or simply looking for connection, you belong in this conversation.

You can share your story, ask questions, or simply listen. Your experience matters, and it may be exactly what someone else needs to hear. 💙

Heart to Heart: Amputee Pain: Peer Led Discussion

📅 Thursday, October 8
🕕 6:00 PM ET

Register here: https://www.lesslegmoreheart.com/heart-to-heart-registration

Dinner. Stories. A room full of people who showed up for this community.

That's October 16th. 2 weeks until ticket sales close, get yours now.

https://www.lesslegmoreheart.com/events

Today is World Heart Day.

The same vascular disease that causes heart attacks and strokes also causes Peripheral Artery Disease — the circulatory condition that is one of the leading causes of limb loss worldwide.

It's the same plaque. The same inflammation. The same narrowed arteries. One risks the heart. One risks the limbs.

Taking care of your cardiovascular health is taking care of your whole body.

This World Heart Day, know your vascular risk. Know your legs. And know that Less Leg More Heart is here for the community when prevention doesn't come in time.

Most people know cardiovascular disease affects the heart.

Fewer know it affects the legs.

The same process that causes heart attacks and strokes — plaque buildup, narrowed arteries, reduced blood flow — also causes Peripheral Artery Disease.

PAD is cardiovascular disease below the heart. The same condition, traveling south.

And when it reaches the legs and feet without treatment, it can take a limb.

Tomorrow is World Heart Day. For the amputee community, heart health is limb health. They cannot be separated.

This September, we've been talking about Peripheral Artery Disease because it's one of the leading causes of limb loss in the United States and most people have never heard of it.

Behind that statistic are people who did everything they could to save their leg. Who showed up to every appointment, tried every intervention, and still reached a point where amputation was the only answer.

And then rebuilt their lives from there.

Less Leg More Heart exists for those people. Before the amputation: awareness, advocacy, early diagnosis. After: support, supplies, and a community that doesn't let anyone figure it out alone.

Thank you for following along this month. Share this page with someone who might need it.

After amputation, the fight isn't over.

Residual limbs need to heal. Sockets cause pressure points. Skin breaks down. And if circulation was already compromised before the amputation, healing becomes even harder.

This is one of the least talked-about realities of vascular-related limb loss: the disease that caused the amputation doesn't always stop at the amputation site.

PAD is systemic. It affects the whole body. And the work of recovery for vascular amputees is often longer, harder, and more expensive than for traumatic amputees.

That's why LLMH doesn't just show up in the moment of crisis. We stay.

How many people have been told their leg pain is "just part of getting older"?

Too many. And for some of them, that conversation delayed a diagnosis that could have changed everything.

Peripheral Artery Disease is a real, documented, treatable condition. It is not inevitable. It is not just aging.

And it is the kind of disease that quietly takes more than it should when no one catches it in time.

If your doctor dismisses your leg pain, you are allowed to push back. You are allowed to ask for an ABI test. You are allowed to see a vascular specialist.

Your legs deserve a second opinion.