Originally Posted by
Marsha Elle
MARSHA ELLE, April 2020 Playmate
When I got my first prosthetic leg, at the age of five, I saw it as a gift.
I was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a condition that affected how my right leg was growing. Throughout my adolescence I received different treatments—including an amputation—and tried various types of prosthetic legs to compensate for the way my body was growing at any given time.
I was born in Haiti, but my family moved to Orlando when I was only nine months old so I could receive medical treatment. The move gave me an opportunity to go to school and start walking for the first time. It was frustrating that they didn’t have prosthetics in my complexion, but at that point I was just grateful to have a leg. Eventually the technology got better, but it was a long time till I had a prosthetic that matched my dark skin.
In middle school my classmates would stare at my leg when I passed them in the hallways. I would try to leave class before the bell rang to avoid it. I’d wear baggy clothes—not only to hide my leg but to hide my whole body. I began struggling with bulimia.
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