By Kym McNicholas, Chairman & CEO, Global PAD Association
The phone rang this morning at our PAD Leg Saver Hotline. On the other end was a gentleman who’d been watching our livestream, his voice carrying that unmistakable mix of frustration and fading hope. His doctors had essentially told him there wasn’t much more they could do for his severe PAD symptoms. Yet here he was, still fighting—implementing our walking techniques, doing isolated exercises while sitting or lying down to improve circulation—refusing to give up despite what he’d been told.
This is the reality of peripheral artery disease (PAD). It’s not just a medical condition—it’s a daily battle that tests not only your physical limits but your spirit. As we continue through September’s PAD Awareness Month, I’ve been reflecting on a particularly moving conversation we had during our recent PAD Leg Saver Hotline podcast that perfectly captures this journey.
Finding Your Way Through the Darkness
“I wanted to die because I thought, honest to God, nobody was going to love me,” Dawn shared, her voice breaking as she recounted her amputation journey. “Is my boyfriend still going to love me, or am I going to be a burden? Because now you have to help me figure out life with no leg.”
Dawn’s story is raw and unfiltered—spending her birthday, Christmas, and New Year’s alone in the hospital during COVID with no visitors and no leg. “All I wanted to do was think about how I could kill myself and die,” she confessed. “That’s the honest truth.”
What makes Dawn’s experience so powerful isn’t just the pain she endured, but how it represents the emotional journey that many with PAD face. The physical symptoms often get the medical attention, but it’s this psychological impact—the loss of independence, the fear of being a burden, the grief over activities you can no longer enjoy—that can be the most difficult to overcome.
For Beth, who lives with Type 1 diabetes along with PAD, this grief manifests in the loss of activities she once loved. “I used to do the polka… I used to ballroom dance… I used to clog… And I can’t do it no more.” Her words echoed Dawn’s sentiment when she shared, “Dancing was my thing. So now as an amputee, it kills me to not dance like that.”
These losses pile up gradually, creating a weight that’s difficult to carry. As Douglas, our PAD Warrior Task Force Chief, so aptly described it: “You just think you get a handle on something. You just get that stability and then you get hit again. And it’s like, oh my God, I just gotten my faith back. And now this happened.”
The Invisible Battle Behind Visible Symptoms
What makes PAD particularly challenging is how it often coexists with other conditions, creating a complex health picture that patients must navigate daily. The conversation in our podcast flowed naturally from PAD to diabetes, to vascular Parkinsonism, to arthritis—because that’s the reality for so many in our community.
Beth explained what she believed was an unexpected connection between Type 1 diabetes and PAD: “You wouldn’t think that somebody with Type 1 diabetes would end up with PAD,” noting that many assume Type 1 is well-controlled through insulin and close monitoring. The reality she lives with is far more complex: “I’ve got diabetic retinopathy. I’ve got a higher chance for kidney failure. I’ve got a higher chance of losing my eyesight… So now here comes PAD. So here’s another complication that I have to deal with.”
This complexity extends to the healthcare system itself. As we discussed the recent proclamation from Representative Kim Schofield recognizing September as PAD Awareness Month in Georgia, our conversation naturally turned to the disparities in healthcare access, particularly in African-American and Hispanic communities where historical distrust creates barriers to early diagnosis.
“We need to work really hard to bring the right healthcare to these patients and help restore their faith and trust in the healthcare system,” I noted, reflecting on the importance of diagnosing PAD earlier, when lifestyle modifications might be all that’s needed.
Douglas highlighted another aspect of this challenge: “When you say heart disease, everybody can just pop it out like that, can’t they? When you say PAD, how many people look at that or go, huh? Never heard of it.” A recent study confirms Douglas’ notion as it shows more than 70% of Americans have never heard of PAD, yet it impacts one-in-five over age 60. This knowledge gap isn’t just among patients—it extends to healthcare providers who may not recognize the connections between conditions.
Finding Strength in the Struggle
As our conversation continued, it shifted from challenges to coping strategies—not in separate segments, but as a natural evolution of sharing our collective wisdom. The beauty of our community is how we learn from each other’s experiences.
Thomas shared how his commitment to exercise keeps him going despite excruciating pain. “Both legs, worse than they’ve ever been, but I still managed to push along,” he told us. When asked where he would be without his daily gym routine, his response was sobering: “I can’t answer that question without lying because I won’t tell the truth to it. It’s a hard question to answer.”
His determination sparked a conversation about pushing through pain. Dawn admitted, “The second I got pain, I’m out of there,” although “I wish I would’ve known I need to push through so maybe I wouldn’t have lost my leg. Meantime, Thomas described pushing through workouts with weights between 150-160 pounds despite his legs buckling from pain. “It’s horrendous pain,” he admitted, yet he continues, determined to remain on two feet, knowing the pain is triggering his body to grow natural bypasses around his leg artery blockages.
They both admit it’s not something though they can handle daily. It takes a lot both physically and emotionally to not only muster up the courage to face it head on, but to persevere through it taking one more step and one more step.
As Dawn put it: “Some days I don’t want to do it. But some days I don’t have a choice… It might take me a minute. I might sit here like 20 more extra minutes and then I have to say, ‘All right, you really got to get up.’”
They all admit that some days require pushing through; other days demand rest and self-compassion.
“Some days I just go back to bed,” explains Dawn. “I have to allow myself those days so I can re-charge to take care of the kids, the animals, and all else life throws at me.”
“But I do have a guilty pleasure,” she says. It’s thrift shopping at Goodwill—finding joy in small purchases even while acknowledging it’s become both a coping mechanism and a challenge as her collection grows.
Marie chimed in saying that she seeks solace in music, with specific songs that speak to her emotional state.
“My only way to cope is to just be at the gym every day and see what I can do because I feel like I just have to do something,” says Thomas.
Imelda talked about how she gains stability after pushing through painful steps back and forth across the house and managing the cascade of diagnosis she feels she’s gotten lately following the news she has PAD.
She finds relief with hot milk with ghee and honey. She believes it relaxes her and may even help her vascular Parkinsonism. led to a discussion about the anti-inflammatory properties of ghee that our nurse practitioner had mentioned earlier that day.
This exchange revealed something important about living with PAD—there’s no single right way to cope. Importantly, however, it’s important to find a way that works for you as an individual in order to persevere with PAD.
The Community That Makes All the Difference
What struck me most as our conversation flowed from medical challenges to coping strategies to daily struggles was how naturally we moved between supporting each other and sharing practical advice. When Marie revealed her darkest moments, Dawn immediately connected with her, sharing her own grief over her brother’s suicide and how that experience changed her perspective on her own struggles.
“I see what it would be without me being here,” Dawn reflected. “Life isn’t that bad with no leg. It kind of sucks when I can’t dance… but oh well, I guess I’ll look at the pretty pictures — at least I’m here, though.”
Douglas honored Dawn’s love for dancing, suggesting we start a TikTok trend for “upper body dancing,” which led to laughter but also touched on something profound—the human capacity to adapt and find new ways to experience joy.
This mix of brutal honesty and dark humor is quintessential to our PAD community. We don’t sugarcoat the reality, but we find ways to keep moving forward together.
Our PAD Leg Saver Hotline doesn’t just connect patients with medical resources; it creates these lifelines of human connection. Back to the gentleman who called this morning —he found both a medical referral and the reassurance that he wasn’t alone in his struggle. Another woman who called the hotline later, couldn’t wait to proudly report her walking progress and share her excitement over finding a community that would celebrate her achievement at walkingsupportgroup.com, because we understand exactly how significant those extra minutes and new inclines truly are.
Walking Forward Together
As we wrapped up our conversation, we naturally turned to the future—making plans to meet in person in North Carolina, Virginia, and other locations in the coming months. These aren’t just social gatherings; they’re extensions of the lifeline we’ve created virtually.
Thomas will be there, possibly struggling to walk but determined to attend — even if it means Douglas picking him up along the way. Dawn might arrive in her wheelchair, having pushed through the extra effort it takes just to get in and out of a car. Marie will likely bring music that lifts everyone’s spirits. Marina will take that one extra step to push through the pain to grab a hug from all of us in person. And Beth will bring her love and compassion as well as share her experience on managing Type 1 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke alongside PAD.
This is what the PAD journey looks like—a community walking forward together, sometimes with pain, sometimes with tears, but always supporting each other through each step.
As PAD Awareness Month continues, I’m energized by the progress we’re making with extending our Leg Saver Hotline, expanding our community, touching more lives, and having an impact through initiatives like Representative Schofield’s proclamation. But I’m most inspired by the courage I witness daily in our community members who refuse to be defined by their limitations.
If you or someone you love is struggling with PAD, please know you don’t have to face it alone. Our PAD Leg Saver Hotline (1-833-PAD-LEGS) is always available. You might just hear Douglas’ voice on the other end, someone who truly understands what you’re going through.
Feel free to join our Facebook PAD Group whether through PADsupportgroup.org or WalkingSupportGroup.com, we are always here for you to guide you along in your PAD journey.
You can also follow our YouTube channel to join us weekly for our podcasts and other great educational content on PAD at Youtube.com/@TheWayToMyHeart
In this journey where every step counts, sometimes the most important step is reaching out for support. We’re here for you, just as we’re here for each other—one day, one step, one moment at a time.
Kym McNicholas is the Chairman & CEO of the Global PAD Association, a division of The Way To My Heart, a 501©(3) nonprofit dedicated to removing barriers to timely, effective life and limb-saving care through education, advocacy, and support.