Meet Stephenie Rodriquez. She made a pledge of impacting a billion lives by 2025.American-born Sydney Australia-based CEO had both her feet amputated after being bitten by 3 mosquitos in Nigeria that gave her Cerebral Malaria. This disease carries a 97% death rate but Stephenie Rodriquez not only survived but is thriving. She is the first woman in Australia with above-ankle bilateral osseointegrated implants and mechanical feet. This CEO and single mother, and digital entrepreneur wound up battling severe neurological complications in a Boston hospital, where she was given only a 2 percent chance of survival. At one stage, one of her necrosed, blackened toes fell off in her hand. “It was horrible, absolutely horrible. Completely unimaginable." She is known as @digitalgodess on Instagram and Twitter.

Fast forward to 2022: WanderSafe thriving. New TED Talk is complete and a book coming out. "I see myself as augmented because I have superpowers that you don't. I look at the differences in how I showed up before. To be able to be front-facing. I do the same things used to do. I just do them differently. I just have to navigate the world a little bit differently. But until my mission is complete -- until gender-based violence is not a thing – I still have work to do." Stephenie shares her life's work, rehabilitation, and what it's like to be limb different. Join me for this inspiring story; it's the best twenty-four minutes you'll spend today.
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Transcript Reading Time: 7-minutes

In this episode, we cover:

• The core essence of me is still me, despite the limb difference and the challenges and physical look of my body. I'm still 100% passionate. And I just wanna live every single day to live out that mission and serve those who I can serve, whether it be an inspiration to get over adversity or resilience.
• Severe septic shock and sepsis are simply put – a blood infection. And that parasite was 8% of my blood volume. It was multiplying in my body to such a level that my kidneys and liver just wouldn't let it through. It caused me to go into this severe septic shock and that's complete organ failure.
• The process and procedure are called Osteo Integration. Osteo is bone and integration is the connection. They took metal and titanium rods and cut off where the damaged legs started, which is for me above the ankle. So I have my knee, I have my mid-calf. But somewhere between my calf and the ankle, they took off my legs. They took a metal and titanium rod and they put it through to my kneecap. And so I have a titanium rod hanging out of my amputation site. I'm osteo integrated.

Resources from This Episode:

• https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/completely-unimaginable-how-a-business-trip-changed-stephenie-s-life-20211026-p593e6.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF1NkCulF8M
• https://wandersafe-beacon.com/
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10299027/Sydney-socialite-Stephenie-Rodriguez-reveals-malaria-resulted-feet-amputated.html