Support Athena's Fight Against Endometriosis

Hi, my name is Athena and I’m 19 years old. At 13 years old, I was diagnosed with endometriosis, a chronic inflammatory disease.

Endometriosis is a disease in which tissue similar to the tissue that lines the uterus grows outside the uterus in places where it doesn’t belong. The tissue thickens, breaks down, and bleeds with each period, but the blood has no way to leave the body and becomes trapped. Endometriosis pain is actually among the top 20 most painful things the human body can experience.

This has affected me in ways I wouldn’t wish on anybody. In 7th grade, I had to be put in home and hospital schooling because the pain got so bad I couldn’t even get out of bed. I bleed for months on end with consistent shooting pains throughout my abdomen, lower back and down my legs. Sometimes the pain will get so bad I’ll vomit or faint. I’ve been rushed to the Emergency Room more times than I could even remember.

The only 2 treatment options for endometriosis are surgery and birth control. There is no cure, therefore I will have to live with this condition for the rest of my life. I’ve been on all different kinds of birth control since I was 13, and got my first endometriosis surgery in July of 2019. Although the surgery did give me some pain relief for a little bit, I’m in the process of my second surgery because my endometriosis came back and is more painful than ever.

I went in for a pre-op ultrasound about 4 days ago and they found a 5.3cm complex ovarian cyst on my right ovary. A complex ovarian cyst is a cyst that contains thicker fluid or blood, walls within the cyst or solid areas. I will need surgery to remove the cyst and biopsy it.

One of the main symptoms of endometriosis is infertility, and because of all the surgeries and all the birth control, my fertility is in danger. My biggest dream in life is to have children one day.

I am hoping to raise money to go through an egg freezing process to increase my chances of having children naturally one day, and the sooner I get it done the better my chances are. Thank you all.