Screenshots of the Tinder profile of a young woman has been shared multiple times, making her the talk of the town. She’s even gotten tons of dating and marriage requests. Now with all this extra attention, you’d assume she was a gorgeous celebrity or a sexy model. But in fact, she’s just a regular gal who has one arm. So what was it about her Tinder profile that made her so alluring to people?
This is 21-year-old Lauren Duck from San Diego, California. She sees herself the same as anyone else her age, but there’s a tiny difference: she’s got one arm. Lauren lost the left one over a year ago in a road accident, and she shared the details of the horrifying event.
Lauren recalls: “I was going pretty fast on a moped and lost control of it, and I hit the median in the road, I flew off and hit a sign and it sliced my arm off.” She remembers what she did when cops found her. “I asked the cop, ‘Hey, am I gonna die?’ His response was, ‘No, you’ll be fine’.” Ingenuity struck and the cop realized how he could save her life.
The cop who found Lauren had recently been trained on how to make a tourniquet, which helped him to keep her from bleeding to death. She was rushed to the hospital and her arm was removed surgically. While she acclimated to life with one arm, she dealt with the traumatic event using two surprising tools: humor and Twitter.
Lauren joked about her disability constantly on Twitter. In one tweet, she wrote: “I don’t use the clapping emoji cos I can’t clap and I’m being completely honest.” Now usually, people don’t joke about having a disability, so folks on social media found Lauren´s humor to be surprising and refreshing all rolled into one. Soon she realized that impact she was making was a positive one.
Lauren noticed how people loved how open Lauren was about her missing arm. She stated: “People don’t see that very often, so a lot of people DM me to tell me it’s really helpful to them, people who are also missing limbs or are disabled.” But it was a different situation for those who weren’t disabled, and laughed at her jokes, but felt guilty about the whole thing.
Lauren claimed,“People always respond like, ‘Oh, I feel bad for laughing.'” But she didn’t mind. “And I’m like, ‘No! I think it’s funny—I made it!’” It also helped her self-image to get so many positive comments on social media. She added, “[It] showed me that people still found me beautiful and missing an arm didn’t make me less of a person.” Now it was time to start dating again.
After the accident, Lauren had stopped using her Tinder account. But as her confidence about her new appearance grew, she opted to reactivate her account. But first, she needed to change her profile so it would reflect her life changes and her wicked sense of humor. It took her some time to whip up something that was witty, funny, and original.
Lauren recalls creating the ultimate Tinder profile one night quite by accident. “I got home pretty drunk, and I don’t remember typing it up really.” When she woke up the next morning, she discovered she’d gone viral. Twitter and Reddit had somehow screencapped her profile and people claimed that she had “won Tinder.” She never expected this much attention.
Guys and pretty much everyone on Tinder loved that Lauren was so candid about what happened to her and it obviously struck a chord. She said that, “I’m getting a lot of matches and super likes because of it.” But she’s also gotten marriage proposals from 12 guys. However, Lauren is a just a girl who wants to have fun and would like to take things slow.
Lauren shared that, “I’m looking for someone with the same type of humor and doesn’t take themselves too seriously.” Her dream guy would be “someone who is still respectful about my situation and doesn’t assume I want to talk about my arm just because I make some jokes about it.” While she continues to search, she posts sexy photos to keep her admirers happy.
Lauren will often take photos of herself in risqué outfits, lingerie and wigs and posts them. It’s her way of loving herself even though she has one arm. She said, “I am totally comfortable with my body,” And added, “People can say whatever they want to me.” She´s become so famous on Twitter that her hometown hails her as a celebrity.
Folks in San Diego recognize Lauren all the time. She recalls, “My sister and I were at a restaurant and the waitress was like, ‘Oh my God, you are so brave.'” But Lauren still works hard every day and won’t let the fame get to her head. After all, she might have embraced her disability, but she wouldn´t mind having a prosthetic limb. Unfortunately, the cost of one is just way too much.
Lauren researched, set up a payment plan, and concluded that it would cost her $100,000 to get a myoelectric arm. So, she created a GoFundMe page to get the $50,000 in donations, which was the down payment, while she worked hard to get the other half. Her fame on Twitter gave her a financial boost, especially from a source that was unexpected.
Since she was a hit on Tinder, the dating app company decided to contribute to her worthy GoFundMe campaign. “They donated a big chunk,” she shared. “They donated over $15,000, which is incredible.” Lauren’s raised $36,174 as of February 2018. But she’s in no hurry. “Now I know the goal is a lot but I’m young and have time, so any amount donated is extremely helpful and means a lot to me.”