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By Alyce Collins
Senior Reporter
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Following years of debilitating pain, a Generation Z woman made the life-altering decision to amputate her leg, despite knowing the risks that came with it.
For Emma Warner, 21, an operation on her right leg for varicose veins in 2021 was supposed to get her back on her feet, however, that certainly wasn’t the case. She told Newsweek that the surgery actually marked “the start of a lifechanging condition.”
The pain in her leg was unbearable and unlike anything Warner, from the U.K, had ever experienced. It was initially attributed to post-operative pain, but when it didn’t subside, it was clearly out of the ordinary.
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“As time passed, the pain gradually evolved,” Warner said. “Over the next year, it intensified into a constant burning sensation, as if my leg were on fire from the inside. Something as gentle as rain or a passing breeze could cause overwhelming pain and bring me to tears."
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She continued: “I went from walking with crutches to being unable to walk more than 10 meters without stopping due to severe pain. What was expected to be a period of recovery instead became a gradual loss of function, as even short distances became unbearable.”
As the pain intensified, it massively restricted Warner’s mobility. She underwent MRI scans and nerve conduction studies to try and uncover the cause of the pain. She was initially diagnosed with chronic pain in 2022, but that didn’t seem sufficient to Warner.
Chronic pain is awful of course, but this had to be more than that. It didn’t feel like regular pain, and it didn’t explain some of Warner’s other symptoms, such as extreme nerve pain and abnormal blood flow turning the leg purple.
Warner tried numerous treatments and each time she held onto the hope that maybe this one would work, but none of them ever did. Her life ultimately came to “a complete standstill” and it felt like her future was slipping away. While her friends reached major milestones and achievements, Warner was struggling just to stand.
Unsatisfied with her diagnosis, Warner started doing her own research to seek answers instead.
“Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) kept appearing,” Warner said. “The descriptions, medical studies, and photos were familiar to me—they looked exactly like what I was living with. Yet even with that knowledge, I wasn’t diagnosed.”
What is CRPS?
The Cleveland Clinic explains that CRPS is a neurological condition that causes pain, changes in skin color, increased sensitivity to painful stimuli, numbness and decreased function in the affected limb.
CRPS is considered rare, affecting around 200,000 people every year in the U.S. More than 90 percent of cases result from nerve trauma or injury to the affected limb that damages the thinnest sensory and autonomic nerve fibers. While the condition often develops after surgery, bone fractures, or sprains, it can also develop without an obvious injury.
While CRPS is hard to diagnose, treatment includes physical therapy, behavioral therapy, medication and alternative pain therapies. But for Warner, there was one thought that kept coming back: amputation.
“Amputation lived quietly in the back of my mind and grew louder as my world grew smaller. I went from running freely to being unable to walk in a matter of hours. The future I imagined for myself disappeared and everything felt impossible,” Warner said.
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She continued: “Amputation felt like my last chance. Not an easy choice, but a deeply painful hope that I might reclaim a piece of the person CRPS took from me. Amputation is never guaranteed to help CRPS. There is always the risk that it could make the pain worse or cause it to spread. I carried that fear with me every day, but it was a chance worth taking because standing still in that pain felt like losing everything.”
Becoming an Amputee at 21
Ultimately, Warner made the decision to become an above the knee amputee in 2025. The physical challenges were undeniable, but the hardest part of the journey was psychological. It took time for Warner to trust what remained of her limb. Even the slightest touch would cause her excruciating pain in the past, so her body “learned to fear contact.”
Warner has already made great progress since the amputation in September 2025. She’s up and walking and has even discovered a love of para-cycling. Cycling was always a prominent sport in her past life, and her para-cycling has enabled Warner to capture some of that joy and optimism again.
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Warner began documenting her medical journey on social media (@emma_e_warner on TikTok and @emma_ewarner on Instagram) to raise awareness for CRPS and encourage others to never lose hope. Becoming an amputee at 21 wasn’t easy, but for the first time in a long time, Warner finally feels like she’s able to move forward.
“For so long, I felt completely alone because I had never heard of anyone with CRPS,” Warner said. “Learning to live with chronic illness and disability as a young adult was painfully lonely. But in that loneliness, I realized that even when it feels like no one else understands, our stories matter. Sharing mine has become a way to connect and show that even in the darkest moments, it’s possible to find strength.
“Throughout everything, the one constant that kept me going was sport —particularly para-cycling and swimming. When so much of my life felt uncertain, I always knew that sport would still be there for me. When it came to my amputation, nothing was guaranteed, but I knew one thing for certain: I would cycle again, and I would go back into the water to swim.”
Mere months after the amputation, Warner is getting stronger by the week. In addition to para-cycling, she’s also working towards a para-triathlon, and dreams of performing at a higher level one day in the future. Now that CRPS is behind her, it feels as though anything is possible.
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