"Thank you for giving me my life back." — Darlene Seyfried, age 47

Darlene Seyfried began suffering from a painful leg ulcer in 2002, when she was just 38. Despite years of treatment with her local physician, her ulcer failed to heal, and in fact she developed three new ulcers after one treatment attempt. She had trouble walking, she relied on a cane, she took heavy doses of pain medications every day, and overall felt extremely disabled – and increasingly depressed – by her deteriorated quality of life.

When Darlene began treatment at the Vascular Surgery Vein Program in late 2009, her physician administered new treatments that she had not received before. "Within three months, two of the ulcers had closed," says Darlene. "The original ulcer is now completely healed, so there is just one left. This one is much smaller now, and my pain is virtually gone. I can walk much more now, and use my cane much less." Darlene credits her doctor’s use of surgical debridement, daily topical medications, and other treatments for "really helping move the ulcers along."

According to Darlene, her treatment has "given me my life back. Now I am out and about... I just packed up my house to move — before, I would have had to hire people to pack up my home, but I did it myself. I have my life back."