Woman amputates one 'ugly' leg and wears pants for the first time

Better none than 'ugly'. She said she had enjoyed a new life with her high-tech prosthesis limb.  

'I have literally never worn shorts or a dress in 20 years.' Kristy Wimberly, 32, from Missouri, has hidden her 'ugly' right leg for years because of shame and embarrassment. 

Her right leg has been stunted since six because the nerves connecting her spinal cord to her leg were damaged during surgeries to remove a rare spinal cord tumor.

Wimberly has endured 19 surgeries to try to adjust her leg but her right leg was two inches shorter and unable to walk without braces. She has been teased at school and hid her legs even in the depths of summer.  

What's more, Wimberly was confined to a wheelchair and afflicted by recurrent infections after surgeries. After all, she decided to amputate her sick leg in July 2017. She regains her confidence with her high-tech prosthetic limb. 'I'm so proud of it, and thankful for the new life it's given me.'

The mother of one like to wear skirts and shorts now. She is also pleased with the new way she connects with her daughter: 'I'm able to be so much more active with my daughter now.'

She added: 'Looking back at those photos of my 'ugly' leg I have absolutely no regrets. I couldn't keep doing what I was doing, living my life hiding.'

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)