Heather Mills McCartney

Courtesy of www.heathermills.org

Heather Mills McCartney has not had what most would call an easy life. But no one can dispute that she's made a difference in so many lives around her.

This 37-year-old London woman is often linked to her famous husband, ex-Beatles performer Paul McCartney, now 62. But Heather had been making headlines long before she married the rock 'n' roll icon in June 2002.

From amputee advocate to Nobel Peace Prize nominee, animal-rights warrior to landmine protestor, Heather has devoted her days to making the world a better place.

Born in 1968 to a troubled mother and abusive father, Heather spent her early years trying to survive her dysfunctional family life. When her father was imprisoned, Heather found herself living with the mother who left her years ago in 1977. Her mother's new boyfriend insisted she choose between him and her kids; she chose him. Eventually, Heather ran away, lived on the streets, slept under a London bridge, took a series of menial jobs and eventually found her way on to the catwalk in the modeling circuit.

After an ectopic pregnancy, Heather recuperated in Northern Yugoslavia (today's Slovenia) where she witnessed firsthand the effects a civil war can wage on a country and its people. She spent time helping people escape this war torn country to the United Kingdom. This sparked her first foray into what would become a lifelong mission of humanitarianism. Heather worked to establish refugee crisis centers, hospitals and shelters for those left homeless in the war. She used her modeling profits to help these people.

But a year later, in 1993, Heather was going to need help herself. A horrific accident with a police motorcycle caused Heather to suffer life-threatening injuries: crushed ribs, a punctured lung, shattered pelvis and the loss of her left leg below the knee.

How could she still model and earn a living or help those in need if she couldn't even walk? Never one to roll over and give up, Heather began to rebuild her life on one leg. Intensive physical therapy and multiple surgeries helped put her body back together, but it was doing something good for others that helped heal her soul.

As her amputated leg (or "residual limb") healed and changed shape, the artificial limb fitted for her no longer worked. Discarding it, Heather would then be fitted with a new leg, which would suffice until her leg changed shape again and a new prostethetic would be needed. What a waste, she fretted. But remembering her days in Yugoslavia awakened an idea. In the war-torn region of Croatia, wouldn't slightly used artificial limbs be welcome and needed? As expensive as they were, why not put them to good use?

Courtesy of www.heathermills.org

A little more than a year after her devastating accident, Heather had carved a name for herself as a world-class humanitarian. She initiated an appeal for unwanted prostheses, asking the inmates of Brixton prison to make the limbs ready for transport to Croatia. Since that time, more than 27,000 amputees and landmine-explosion survivors have been helped with these limbs.

Heather now speaks publicly and counsels amputees around the globe, giving them hope and courage to take the next step in their lives. Her book, A Single Step, deals with her own journey, as well as her missions to help others around the globe.

Three years ago, Heather ventured back into modeling, helping the I.N.C. Clothing Company spark awareness and raise funds for the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign, which has raised $100,000 so far. This is now Heather's main charitable focus. She brought the program to the UK from the United States, helping to raise awareness, gather funds, clear landmines and rehabilitate survivors. Her work as a United Nations Association Goodwill Ambassador furthered her mission to spread this anti-landmine movement.

Courtesy of www.heathermills.com

In 1996, she received a Nobel Prize nomination for her anti-landmine efforts in Croatia and Cambodia.

Heather's awards and honors include the Gold Award for Outstanding Achievement, the Human Achievements Award from The Times of London, the British Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Young Person of the Year Award (now called the Heather Mills Award), Redbook’s Mothers and Shakers Award, and The Victory Award by the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C.

She is also an avid crusader against the importation of dog and cat fur into the EU and UK.

In October 2003, Heather defied medical odds (ectopic pregnancies, her age, a bout with uterine cancer, and a shattered pelvis put back together with metal plates) to become a mother for the first time. Beatrice Milly McCartney was born healthy, three weeks early by Cesarean section.

Heather Mills McCartney is a compassionate woman with a vision and commitment to do whatever she can to make the world a safer place for children. Who knows where the path to making the world a better place will lead her in the future?