Sometimes you just have to stand up. You have to be the brave one who gets out there and lets the world know. Once someone starts, others will follow but there is always one person who starts the ball rolling and is the first link in the chain.
This week that person has been my Endo Angel friend Brooke.
She has decided to organise all of us Endo girls to complete an awareness project, which is based on the idea of the Chronic Lyme Disease awareness website 'Suffering the Silence.' The idea is that you paint on your arm the name of the disease or chronic illness that you have, take a photo and share it on social media to raise awareness of all the health conditions out there that fall under the banner of 'invisible illness.'
Invisible illnesses are the ones that people fight every day, but you can't see. We may not be in a wheelchair, on crutches or have any visible outward signs that we're unwell, but on the inside we are suffering just as much as others with recognisable illnesses.
Endometriosis is a classic example of an invisible illness. The support group that I started about 6 months ago now has over 100 members, and if you browsed our profile photos on social media, you would see that we look like beautiful young women and appear completely normal. But the internal battle that we fight daily is anything but pretty. The chronic pain, nausea, draining fatigue, insomnia, bowel and bladder issues, interruptions to work, study and social life - I could go on. But the point is that none of these symptoms can be seen by the average person, which leads to negative comments like 'It's all in your head' or "You look fine, so why are you still sick?'
This is the reason why we need to put ourselves out there and raise as much awareness as we can. Why, when people ask us what is wrong with us, we try to educate them a little bit about our invisible illness - Endometriosis.
When our awareness project is complete, I will post it here for all to see. I will share it with my friends via social media and email. You know why? Because I'm not afraid to stand up and say "Yes, I have Endo."
Awareness is one way of helping ourselves. The more people hear about and talk about Endometriosis, the more chance there is that people power will make change to improve the healthcare that we receive, and one day bring about a CURE.
