Most women regard their legs as part of their sex appeal. But not Kanya Sesser, the stunning 23-year-old lingerie model. Kanya was born without legs, abandoned at 1 week old, and brought up in a foster home, but even all that has not held her back. It has not enough to take the edge off her ambition for success because Kanya now makes an average of N220,000 (US$1000) per day as an underwear model. Kanya is breaking down the barriers of the modelling world by showing that just because she is different, that doesn’t mean she isn’t sexy. She defies traditional beauty standards by working as a model, and hopes to prove that “different” is sexy. No medical explanation is given for Kanya’s condition, but she is believed to suffer from an extremely rare disease condition described as “Amelia” that presents as complete absence of an arm or leg in as a result of the limb formation process being either prevented or interrupted very early during development as a foetus in the womb. It is believed that the Amelia syndrome appears to have a recessive pattern of inheritance—that is, the parents of the affected person each carry one copy of the mutated gene, but do not show signs and symptoms of the condition. In a few cases, amelia may be attributed to health complications during the early stages of pregnancy, including infection, failed abortion or complications associated with removal of an Intrauterine Device after pregnancy, or use of Thalidomide. From a young age, the young California girl was determined to overcome her disability and started modelling for sports brands at 15. After shooting for a number of outlets—as well as being featured by Billabong—the beauty was soon scouted by underwear and bikini brands. Now she combines her modelling career with motivational speaking and her love of sports—she’s currently training for the 2018 Winter Paralympics. “I was mainly doing athletics shoots then as I got older I got into lingerie modelling,” said Sesser, who lives in Los Angeles. “It’s something fun and it shows my story—I’m different and that is sexy, I don’t need legs to feel sexy. “I enjoy making money from it and I love showing people what beauty can look like. These images show my strength.” Sesser didn’t always dream of modelling. It just happened for me and I got used to it,” she said. “I like expressing myself in a different way than people usually see. “I’m very honest, I’m real—I’m never going to behave different to anyone. This is just who I am.” Sesser was adopted from an orphanage in Thailand when she was 5 and moved to Portland, Oregon, with her new family. Instead of a wheelchair, she uses a skateboard to get around and learned to walk on her hands. Sesser loves extreme sports and hopes to compete in mono-ski in the Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. One of her biggest fans is her new boyfriend Brian, whom she has been dating for the past month. “Brian is awesome—he is very supportive of everything I do,” she said. “He recently saw me modeling for first time and told me he thought it was beautiful and unique.” Despite her work as a model, Sesser admits she prefers her natural looks. She is also working on a book about her incredible journey through life, set to be published in 2016.
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