(My partner’s name has been omitted to maintain anonymity. Please always respect this wish if sharing, commenting and/or donating. Thank you!)

I’m writing on behalf of someone who means the world to me, who gives everyone in her life so much and has suffered for far too long. It’s really hard to ask for help like this, but this is my partner‘s best chance of accessing the surgery she urgently needs. Over the past year, my partner’s life has been turned upside down by severe adenomyosis and (very likely, suspected) endometriosis. What began as another chronic illness she could just about handle has progressed into a condition that dominates her daily life. For the past 8 months my partner has been housebound for the majority of the time (around 70–90% of the time) and often completely bedbound. During this time, I’ve been caring for her full-time and doing what I can for her comfort and happiness. In her own words: “my incredible, loving partner has been supporting me in so many ways and helping me navigate a life that has suddenly become very limited.”

In February this year her condition escalated to the point that she required emergency care, including an A&E visit and nearly a full week of inpatient stay due to the severity of her symptoms, which were caused by trialling intense medication intended to help.

Endometriosis can only be properly diagnosed and treated through specialist surgery. She urgently needs a procedure that includes diagnostic laparoscopy, excision of endometriosis, biopsy, and hysteroscopy. This surgery would allow specialists not only to confirm the diagnosis but also remove the diseased tissue causing so much pain. Waiting times for specialist surgery in the NHS are usually several years, and her condition worsens while she waits. Under NHS teams, my partner was told the surgery was a few months away, and then that it would be expedited due to the severity of her condition, but these teams have not followed through on their promises and consistently neglected her. When seeking other NHS care, despite being referred as urgent, we were told it would take 12 months to be seen, and then likely several more months or even years to actually have the surgery.

Because of this, we are trying to raise (and save towards), about £10,000 in total to access surgery with a specialist endometriosis surgeon as soon as possible.

This surgery could give my partner the chance to reclaim parts of her life that have been taken away: to leave the house again, regain more independence, and begin rebuilding a normal life. If you are able to contribute, no matter how small, it would truly mean the world to us.

And if donating towards our goal isn’t possible, sharing this page link (while please keeping my partner’s name anonymous) would help tremendously. Thank you so much for taking the time to read her story and for any support you are able to give.