Regina Konstantinova — On April 15, 2016, Kristi was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which actually started several years before with numbness in her toe that, for some reason, didn't arouse any suspicions among doctors. The only solution was the amputation of her right foot.
Kristi lost her limb but didn't lose heart: she decided to convince the doctor to return her lost foot, so that she could keep it and even create its very own Instagram account in order to inspire other people.
"My cousin's friend actually had this idea, and I knew I had to do it because I wanted to make others and myself laugh. I know how hard it was to go through what I went through and I wanted people going through difficult times to know they are not alone and there is hope," she told Sputnik International.
The reaction to her unusual request differed:
"At first my doctor thought I was joking when I asked him to return my foot. When he realized I wasn't, he told me it could be possible for me to get it back. My parents tried to convince me not to do that; mom has said she hoped that I would forget about it. After they realized how important it was to me they changed their minds. As for my friends, they have been supportive about it from day one," the woman explained.
So, Kristi received her limb back and took it to get the bones cleaned, whitened and wired together. Since then she takes the skeleton literally everywhere and publishes various pictures of her foot's "wanderings" in the unusual Instagram account, which has gained over 15,500 followers in slightly more than four months.
If somebody could be more enthusiastic about this "reunification" than Kristi, it has definitely been her pets:
"My dogs can't be left alone with my foot. They are very interested in the bones and try to carry them off, if left within their reach," she said.
There is a picture of lightning on the dead foot's heel: as a big tattoo lover, Kristi decided to make one on her lost limb just for fun.
"That tattoo wasn't on my foot, I actually had a seahorse on the ankle I lost. I was hanging out with a few of my friends (one of whom is my tattoo artist) and we thought it would be cool to try to tattoo the bone."
Kristi would like to travel more in the future, but for now she is more concentrated on her ongoing care, as she is not yet able to work and faces issues with the insurance company that denied covering her expenses.
"I hope to travel more in the future, it just depends on if I ever have money to do so. I don't at the moment so I mostly stay in Oklahoma, where I live. I'm trying to raise the funds to cover my out of pocket medical expenses, which total over $10,000."
