Chriesman resident Whitney Lavender will represent Burleson County and all of Texas at the upcoming Ms. Wheelchair USA competition.
The competition will be held July 16-17 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, at the Center Stage Theatre in the Walsh Jesuit Complex, but the event will be a full week, July 10-18, with community activities, sightseeing and fundraising for the The Dane Foundation.
The Dane Foundation hosts Ms. Wheelchair USA, with a mission to provide for the unique needs of individuals with physical and developmental disabilities.
And, Lavender is honored to have been selected to represent Texas.
The 39-year-old mother of four was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome over three years ago after she fell down steps at her son’s school, injuring her right leg.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a form of chronic pain that usually affects an arm or a leg. CRPS typically develops after an injury, a surgery, a stroke or a heart attack. The pain is out of proportion to the severity of the initial injury.
And, CRPS is rare. And, there is no cure.
And, CRPS is rare. And, there is no cure. About three months after her fall, the disease settled into her right leg, and a surgeon decided that it was necessary to amputate the leg above the knee.
“So, on April 20, 2020, I went into the hospital, alone, because of COVID,” she said.
She said, “I had never heard about CRPS until the first doctor said, ‘You got this thing in your leg.’ And, I’ll never forget the doctor saying that it means, ‘You’re going to be in pain for the rest of your life and on medication.’”
“I remember that bedside manner being so abrupt, but in that initial statement, you don’t fully understand what complex regional pain syndrome as a whole is until you really live it. And, it is pain -- a pain at a level that most human beings would never experience...and constant,” Lavender said.
Lavender described the pain she goes through every day.
She said, “I will forever be in an excruciating amount of pain. In fact, it ranks as the highest pain, above amputation without sedation.”
She said that she “had such peace” about the decision to have the surgery, and “kept a positive mindset throughout.”
And, her positive attitude has been inspiring to others.
When most would drown in self-pity for losing a leg and having to use a wheelchair, she said, “That chair gave me wings.”
When Lavender was a little girl, she said she lacked in confidence.
She said, “Part of that was due to constantly hearing that I needed to lose weight.”
However, after her amputation, she found her confidence.
She posted on her Facebook page: “I began the journey to walk again on a prosthetic leg. The first day that I stood up on that leg, I looked in the mirror and bawled. I spoke out loud to the woman looking back at me and said, ‘You are so beautiful and so incredibly strong.’ It took going through all of that for me to look at myself in a positive light for the first time ever.”
Even after that day, and the pain from the CRPS not allowing her to continue with the prosthetic leg, she has not lost her self-confidence.
She said, “I still look at myself in the mirror every day from my wheelchair and see a beautiful, strong and capable woman staring back at me.”
Lavender said that even though she has this hardship, she is still “Whitney” -- “happy and bright” with a love for the outdoors and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and mixed martial arts (MMA).
Her love of the outdoors came from growing up hunting and fishing with her dad. She was even in South Texas bow hunting only two weeks before the accident.
Her love for UFC and MMA is due to her entire family loving watching it on television and her two sons being involved in mixed martial arts and competing at tournaments.
She said, “I love supporting them and cheering for them.”
Lavender credits her family, especially her husband Scott, for helping her throughout this journey.
She teared up and said, “I often wonder if I put myself in the position he (Scott) is in, would I be as fantastic as he has been because -- there’s really no word for it -- he’s truly amazing.”
She then spoke about her four children.
“I have two bonus daughters -- I don’t like to say stepdaughters because I love them like they’re mine. And, we have our boys two together.”
Lavender said that “I’m still me. I’m still in there. But a lot has changed because of all this, for sure.”
Lavender will be competing against representatives from other states. And, though it is overwhelming to her to think about, she is “trying to look at in pieces so I can get through this and then that.”
She said the most difficult portion for the competition for her will be keeping her speeches within the time limits.
“We have a very strict time limit and will be escorted off stage if you go over,” she said.
“I tend to be a little long winded, so that’s been a really big lesson for me during this whole process,” Lavender said.
Though she’s a little nervous about the uncertainty of “what to expect,” she is excited about the itinerary she does know about.
“We get to start out by having some fun, including visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Akron Zoo with the newly opened The Wild Asia Exhibit and meeting the zoo’s penguins.”
Lavender also said the contestants will be participating in community service projects to promote The Dane Foundation -- “the mothership of the Ms. Wheelchair pageant.”
“Every year, they sell these little Christmas trees to raise money for The Dane Foundation. So, we have to decorate a Christmas tree when we get there.”
She said she’s bought a lot of “America” decorations -- “red, white and blue stuff...I thought that that would be fun,” she said.
Each contestant will also have to set up an exhibit, she said, to “tell your story for people while they are walking by.”
She said that she will be featuring “Texas hospitality” and “Texas grit” in her exhibit.
Lavender said that there will also be a lot of rehearsals for the two-night pageant, including an opening “performance” on the second night “where we all come out and do the little routine -- which is going to be really fun, I think.”
Lavender said the entire event will also be filmed for a documentary, including the “behind the scenes” of the competition.
The competition will be broadcasted on Pay-Per-View.
In addition to the Ms. Wheelchair USA title, Lavender will also be competing for the People’s Choice title, and could use the help of residents of Burleson County to obtain the title.
The People’s Choice Award is given to the woman who receives the most votes via donations to The Dane Foundation. Each vote is a $5 donation and voting closes at 8:30 p.m. EST on July 17, prior to the crowning of the new Ms. Wheelchair USA.
To vote for Lavender, visit https://secure. givelively.org/donate/dane-foundation-inc/ms-wheelchair-usa-people-s-choice-award-texas.
Voting can also be done by texting 44321, and typing MWUSATX in the message.