Close friends of mine will know I've been in constant pain for the last 2.5 years. And I'm in this mess because Women's Health is generally disregarded in modern Britain. There's very little support, minimal research, no adequate sense of care, and a virtually non-existant awareness of my condition within gynaecology. Despite it affecting 1 in 4 women across their lives.

I'm currently waiting over 2 years to see a pain specialist and in that time I've just got to sit here with various nerves burning hoping my life won't fall apart in the meantime.

So now I'm turning this pain into power to try and make something good out of my pretty bad situation.

Please please help me raise money for Women's Health Hope who really kept me going when I thought my life was over.

If you want to know more about my condition; my prognosis is not great: nerve damage which can't be fixed with any magic pill. There's a chance the nerves will calm down over many years. There's a chance they never will and I will live in chronic pain for the rest of my life. There's an option of surgery which has no guarantee of success and is extremely invasive. There's an option to do nothing and let this continue indefinitely.

The bigger picture:

Gynaecology wait times have tripled since 2014, leaving 760,000 women waiting in pain. A huge proportion (260,000) are not being seen within the NHS 18 week target time.

For many, it’s well over a year – 365 days of agony and counting. And the wait for diagnosis and surgery is even worse. Women with endometriosis typically wait over 8 years for a diagnosis. They then often wait several more years for surgery, all whilst enduring debilitating pain.

Turn our pain into power. Sponsor women like me on the NHS waitlist to raise funds for Women’s Health Hope. And help us end medical misogyny.