I am taking on a 1in10 Challenge to raise vital funds for Endometriosis UK!

After 4 decades of pain, time off school, college & work, hospital admissions, being told ‘you’re just unlucky, lots of girls have painful periods’, doctors thinking it could be my appendix, ectopic pregnancy, a spell of Colitis… all wrong.

Finally one GP (who luckily was a menopause specialist) LISTENED to me and asked if anyone had talked to me about Endometriosis. No one had. She referred me, I was scanned for other things (Endo doesn’t show up on scans) and they thought I might have cancer, more tests, luckily not cancer. Finally the surgery in September 2025 and the diagnosis. Looking back, I can now identify my first flare ups as far back as middle school, age 9 or 10. I remember my dad having to pick me up from school because I couldn’t walk or even stand from the pain. I could only get around the house on all fours. The doctor I saw then said it was my body ‘changing’, or getting ready for periods. Wrong again. My periods didn’t start until I was 13.

Keep going back to the doctor, don’t give up. Painful periods are NOT normal.

Endometriosis is the name given to the condition where cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb (uterus) are found elsewhere in the body. It is a chronic and often debilitating condition that can cause painful periods, painful sex and pelvic pain outside of periods. It may also lead to infertility, fatigue and bowel and bladder problems.

Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, that's as many as diabetes yet very few people have even heard of it.