Her Legs Won’t Stop Growing: Bride-To-Be Battles Lipedema

EAST ORANGE, NJ — Bride-to-be and East Orange resident Katia Page knows that her fiancé loves her. After all, she’s a good catch: smart, educated and equipped with the know-how to cook a great meal.

Still, living with lipedema — also known as “painful fat syndrome” — isn’t easy. At one point, the New Jersey resident’s legs were 50 inches wide, and she was in so much discomfort that she “couldn’t really do anything,” she said. But just as bad as the pain was the social stigma that came when people assumed that her appearance was caused by an unhealthy diet and not medical issues, she said.

Page — who recently appeared on a TLC television special titled “My Legs Won’t Stop Growing” to discuss her disease — has been a vocal advocate in her attempts to raise awareness about lipedema.

According to CureLipedema.org, the often misunderstood disease occurs almost exclusively in women and causes swelling of the legs and hips due to accumulations of fat and fluid in the tissues under the skin.

“How often have you seen a woman who appears to be a size 8 or 10 from the waist up and a size 18 or more from the waist down with unusually large, column-like legs?” the organization’s website asks. “Women who have this body profile more often than not are exhibiting classic early stage lipedema. As lipedema progresses, fat will increase in the lower body. Unfortunately, lipedema patients tend to gain weight in the lipedemic areas, and can only lose it in the non-lipedemic areas. Even bariatric surgery will only result in fat loss primarily from the waist up. Lipedemic fat cannot be exercised or even starved away.”

The disease can have cruel effects that can prevent a person from participating in many of the activities that make life worthwhile… such as enjoying her married years with her fiancé.

In an effort to battle her symptoms, Page recently embarked on a series of liposuction sessions that her doctor hopes will help to manage the disease and “set her current situation back 15 years,” BarcroftTV reported.

But there is a long road ahead, she noted.

“My biggest fear is becoming immobile because once I can’t move,” Page told BarcroftTV. “It’s bad when your calf is bigger than your waistline. One calf — not both — but one. I know this disease will progress and I could lose my life. I just want to be around to have a long life. Who wants to get married and then pass away on their mate?”

Page’s courage at going public with her story and photos have inspired other patients diagnosed with lipedema, some of whom praised her on social media.

“My beautiful friend Katia Page… is a wonderful advocate for those of us with late stage lipolymphedema,” wrote one woman. “Thank you, Katia, for raising awareness and for providing a voice for us all.”

“Thank you for sharing this,” another woman wrote. “I cannot imagine the pain you have. I hope that by sharing this with me and me sharing, helps spread the word and makes at least one person think about their comments. I cannot take the physical pain away, but maybe I can help a little with the heart pain.”

Photos: James Harrison/Barcroft Productions

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