At the beginning of May, I found out that my middle sister Mason was diagnosed with endometriosis. All I knew about endometriosis was that it caused her a lot of pain. So I looked into it.

Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the endometrium (tissue lining the uterus) grows outside the uterus, meaning this disease can affect anyone with this tissue. It start happen at any point after puberty and is thought to affect at least 11% of women in the US--over 7 million people. Symptoms include pain, especially during menstruation, heavy periods, and infertility. It's thought that there's a genetic link, meaning because my sister has it, my baby sister and I have a greater chance of developing endometriosis.

What causes this disease? We don't know, not yet. 

Can you prevent it? No, there's no way to prevent it.

So how do you treat it? There's no cure right now. Pain can be managed with pain killers, hormone therapy, and in some cases surgery.

There's a lot we don't know about endometriosis. And it might take a while to discover because when it comes to research, the federal government sets aside ~$1/diagnosed patient/year.

So what does this mean? Why am I asking you to donate to EndoFound? To help raise awareness about this disease and treatment options and to help raise funds for further research.

For more information about endometriosis and EndoFound:

(1) The Mayo Clinic- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endometriosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354656

(2) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services- https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/endometriosis

(3) U.S. National Library of Medicine- https://medlineplus.gov/endometriosis.html

(4) Johns Hopkins Medicine- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/endometriosis

(5)- EndoFound- https://www.endofound.org/