Help This East Orange Woman Fight A Chronic, Fat-Based Illness

EAST ORANGE, NJ — Living with lipedema — an often-misunderstood disease that causes immense swelling of the legs and hips — isn’t easy.

At one point, Katia Page’s legs were 50 inches wide, and the East Orange resident was in so much discomfort that she “couldn’t really do anything,” she said. But just as bad as the physical pain was the social stigma that came when people assumed that her appearance was caused by an unhealthy diet, not medical issues.

• See related article: Her Legs Won’t Stop Growing: Bride-To-Be Battles Lipedema

That’s why Page started her 501c3-certified nonprofit organization The Lipedema Queen, which assists women like herself to purchase compression garments, nutritional supplements and surgeries that help with their mobility and raise their quality of life.

Page recently launched an online fundraiser for her nonprofit, which can be seen here.

Part of the fundraiser will help to pay for 15 lipedema patients’ custom compression garments, a package that Page hopes to send by New Year’s Day.

Page told Patch she was diagnosed with lipedema in 2006, but she’s been suffering with the symptoms since she was a young child.

“The doctors were just overlooking it,” she said. “My family took me to nutritionists. They had personal trainers for me. But a lot of people don’t understand. You can’t diet this away. You can’t exercise it away.”

Lipedema also has a hormone component that can “shift the disease into fast forward,” Page explained, adding that she has undergone hormone therapy in the past.

• See related article: The Lipedema Queen Speaks

Photo 1 courtesy of Katia Page

Photo 2 by James Harrison/Barcroft Productions

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