(ABC 6 News) – A Kasson-Mantorville High School graduate has recently garnered international attention following her decision to have her right foot amputated.

28-year-old Sierra Diller had been dealing with unending pain in her right foot from non cancerous congenital hemangioma.

Since amputating the foot, Diller’s adjusting to a new life without pain, and people complementing her for sharing her story.

Since she first felt the pain in 4th grade, Diller and her family tried countless solutions to deal with it. One thing they hadn’t considered until after she was an adult, was amputating her foot.

“It started as a joke a little bit, but I started to do some personal research on elective amputation, just to see if that was something right for me,” said Diller.

The idea seemed out there at first, but after consulting with the right doctor, Diller began to feel it was the best choice.

“I was struggling and my physical well being, my mental well being was held back because of this issue,” Diller said. “I was willing to try what he suggested, which was try to surgically remove it with some injections, before we finally considered the final option, which was amputations.”

On December 8, 2023, the amputation was complete.

There are few people who better understand the physical pain Diller has been through than her cousin, Emily Suhr.

Suhr suffered from intoeing around the same time Diller’s tumor was diagnosed as kids.

Even after multiple surgeries, Suhr still had difficulty walking in the months that followed.

Despite the shared pain between the cousins, Suhr faced fewer limitations getting back to a normal life.

“Being a cousin, being in her life, experiencing so many things between coming here and riding four wheelers, going shopping, going Black Friday shopping. It’s hard when she wasn’t able to do things as the rest of us could,” said Suhr.

When Suhr first heard her cousin was planning to go through with the amputation, it took her a bit by surprise.

“Hearing that it was going to happen was a shock, but I think it was a relief at the same time to know that she was finally ending that stage in her life where it was just pain,” said Suhr.

With her story now being shared worldwide, Diller has hope it can inspire others to find the best solutions for their own pain.

“I’ve had people reach across from Europe to tell me that they have the exact same pain in their foot. The exact same tumor in the same place of their foot, and it’s made me feel so not alone to know there’s other people out there that maybe I could have helped, or maybe that their story helped me in some capacity,” Diller said.

On top of the support Diller has received from her immediate family, her wife, Alli, has also been a large help for her transition to life without a right foot.

Diller has said she is looking forward to all the things she can now try and do without pain in her foot, like running, as she proceeds with breaking in her new prosthetic.