This week is National Amputee Awareness Week – an annual event to help improve understanding of the challenges facing amputees and people living with congenital limb differences, people like seven-year-old Anu from Birmingham, England.

Anu’s story

Shortly after Anu was born her leg was amputated, leaving her reliant on a prosthetic limb to walk.
In May, Anu was fitted with a new pink sports blade. An uplifting video of Anu being enthusiastically welcomed back to school by her classmates touched the hearts of people around the world after it went viral.
Anu’s new blade was custom-made thanks to a funding injection given to Britain’s National Health Service last year to boost research and improve access for children to activity prosthetics that allow them to live an active lifestyle, running, swimming and dancing with their friends.
Watch the video: http://bit.ly/2pRcOeK

National Amputee Awareness Week

Losing a limb is a daunting experience for amputees and their family, regardless of the cause.
Kids like Anu are not alone, with more than 10,000 Australian’s losing a limb each year due to injury, trauma, diabetes, cancer or infection – that’s about 28 new amputations performed every day.
Australia’s peak body for amputees, Limbs 4 Life, provides services to thousands of amputees and carers across the country, helping them to regain their independence and lead fulfilling lives.
It’s annual awareness week is a big part of that support, helping build community knowledge of limb loss to reduce public stigma and educate the wider community of the prevalence of amputation to improve access to healthcare and support.

Get Your Ribbon On

You can show your support for Aussie amputees by joining the Get Your Ribbon On Campaign by following these simple steps:

1. Order a National Amputee Awareness Week Ribbon from the Limbs4Life website.
2. Alternatively, you can add a virtual ribbon to your social media profiles by visiting Limbs4Life on Facebook or Twitter and following the prompts or downloading the ribbon from the Limbs4Life website.
3. Take a photo of you and your friends wearing your ribbon share it with Limb4Life on social media. Don’t forget to tag your posts with the hashtags #GetYourRibbonOn, #NAAW17 and #Amputees.

Together we can make a real difference because no-one should have to go through limbs loss alone.

For more information about Limbs4Life or National Amputee Awareness Week visit www.limbs4life.org.au.