My body started sending signals that something was wrong before I even turned 15 — painful periods that left me bedridden, and cysts that doctors couldn’t quite explain. Birth control became my only known solution through my teens and into my twenties, cycling between pills and later Nexplanon.

When I finally stepped away from hormonal birth control due to side effects in my early 20s, I hoped things might improve. They didn’t. The symptoms that had shadowed my entire adolescence were still there — and then some. I was eventually diagnosed with interstitial cystitis, but even that didn’t fully account for the crushing fatigue, waves of nausea, relentless pelvic pain, and hot flashes that had become my normal. For years, I sat in doctors’ offices and was made to feel like I was exaggerating, being dramatic, or simply anxious. The gaslighting was its own kind of exhaustion.

By 27, I was done accepting “we’re not sure” and “just get back on birth control” as answers. I found Dr. Moawad, and for the first time, I felt genuinely heard. He ordered an MRI — and it confirmed what I had long suspected: endometriosis. After over a decade of pain, I finally had a name for it.

Dr. Moawad has recommended surgery, and I’m ready. I’m raising funds to help cover the costs of this procedure so I can finally get my quality of life back. Every contribution, no matter the size, means the world to me.

Thank you for being part of my fight.