ERIN FERNIE

My name is Erin and I am a she/her.

I was diagnosed with endometriosis at age 27. It took fourteen years from the first time I felt the sharp pangs of the lesions adhering to my tissue and nearby organs. Perhaps, if the surgeons who performed my appendectomy when I was 13 investigated the surrounding clear-gel-like substance they mistook for fluid seeping from a burst appendix, I would have been saved years of being gaslit. Doctors repeatedly told me the pain was in my head, or that it was simply period cramps, or my favourite, from “the stress from being a twenty-something woman working in the fast-paced film and television industry”. However, since being diagnosed, I am still reminded that women’s pain tends to be overlooked and dismissed, especially when not visible.

From 2011 to 2018, I underwent five surgeries: exploration to diagnose through ablation, another ablation, two excisions and finally, a hysterectomy and left-oophorectomy. I wish I could say my symptoms have improved, but they have not. I continue to work with an excellent endometriosis specialist who is open to trying new methods as conventional medicines and treatments have not worked.

It has taken me years to accept just how much my endometriosis dictates my life. In 2019 before facing a thoracotomy for another congenital disorder - an aberrant right subclavian artery -I decided to walk away from my film career and shift all my focus onto my health. It continues to be the best decision I have ever made. While it feels like I am physically decaying, my mental health is thriving as I research and interact more with the endometriosis and chronic health communities. 

I am excited and honoured to be working with Femade to help set the new standard of care for those with chronic pain and invisible illnesses.