Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
On Monday 9th Nov, I participated in an event called CHARIOKE http://www.refugee-action.org.uk/charioke/
A ten hour karaoke marathon organised by Lucky Voice, private karaoke and Refugee Action but shared with other charities. I did it in aid of Endometriosis UK. Thanks to all those who have made donations so far. I will be circulating videos and photos within the next week. Please feel free to send them to people you know, with a link to this page so as they might appreciate the laugh and be willing to raise the total!
Video Links:
You can copy this link to find me youtube channel and see all vids:
http://www.youtube.com/user/contemporaryprincess#p/uOr the following should take you to the specific songs you sponsored...
My Heart Will Go - Celine Dion (from soundtrack to Titantic)
Livin' on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
Love Lift Us Up
Wind Beneath My Wings
Lean On Me
Teen Spirit - Nirvana
I Wanna Dance - Whitney Houston
Sexuality - Billy Bragg
There were competitions and I won "Best Show Tune" for my rendition of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" and our pod won "Best Charity Song" for our rendition of "Lean on Me" - all in all, a great but exhausting day!
Endometriosis UK provides services that enable those with endometriosis to understand their disease and to take control of their condition. These services include Local Groups and a free UK Helpline, both of which are staffed by trained volunteers (including me!)Endometriosis affects approximately two million women and that's just in the UK, often physically, personally and financially. The impact of the disease varies with each individual. The role of Endometriosis UK is to improve the lives of people affected and work towards a future where it has the least possible impact on those living with the condition.
My Story
After 8 years of suffering with mysterious variety of horrible symptoms, including passing out with period pain each month, I was finally diagnosed with Endometriosis in Aug 2007. By this point, I was in a very bad way, barely able to leave the house, even with large doses of strong pain killers. I was in almost constant crippling pain, felt sick and everything I ate made me ill. I could only sleep when the pain subsided and this was not enough to maintain my life where I had a fun and demanding job. September 2007 was the first exploratory surgery, where I was told that the possibility of children was highly unlikely and following that, I had at least another two operations. One of which, went rather badly and ended up with the surgeon doing open surgery and taking away some useful pelvic organs!
Recovery was a long road and 6 months on, just as I thought I might be able to cope, the endometriosis got worse again, meaning yet more sick days from work and less chance of paying the bills. The condition ruined my relationships and made friendships more challenging as I become the world's most unreliable friend - due to the unpredictable nature of the disease. By September 2008, I was starting to feel hopeless. My quality of life was so poor, I couldn't see a way forward and felt so isolated despite support from friends and family. I had more sick days than not and so had to go on indefinite sick leave from work again.
I had to give up my flat and ultimately my job as I had no idea when I would be well enough to return. I moved in with my Mum and we took each day at a time. In December 2008, I had yet another exploratory surgery and was offered a 10 hour surgery with a garaunteed stint in the high dependency unit and the possiblity of futher loss of pelvic organs. It was around this time that I found out about Endometriosis UK and I realised there were thousands and thousands of women in my position. Immediately, I felt I was not alone and there was hope. I decided to explore other methods of managing the disease as I was told that the surgery offered to me, would not be my last.
Living with Endo is an ongoing challenge and sometimes it gets me down but I draw strength from my fellow sufferers and I know that we have to pull together to raise awareness of this awful conditon. It takes an average of 8 years to get diagnosed - exactly the time it took me, by which point the disease was out of control and severe. If I had been diagnosed when I first reported my symptoms to the GP, 7 years earlier, it might have been a different story.
We need to educate people about this condition, particularly those in the medical profession. We also need to empower women to be confident enough to be persistant when requesting investigation of their symptoms - not to be dismissed with "stress", "normal period pain", "IBS" or anything else.
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