Endometriosis UK is SO important to me that I almost don't have the words to explain how I feel about it. Almost.
It gave me information about endometriosis before I was diagnosed and, through its pages online, I learned more than the very little I knew then about what happens with this horrendous disease, this illness, this condition. This... THING.
It doesn't stop for me, the pain. I don't have a constant stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen, and I don't always have a heavy dull ache in my pelvis, but I hurt all the time, in some way. Of course, it is not the worst thing EVAH. But it is bad enough, and I get depressed fairly often because of it, about my future, about my prospects in life, work, independence, ohh, so many aspects of so much.
Without this fabulous and tiiiny charity of wonderful people, I would be utterly LOST, and without the friends I have made through its Facebook page, my life would be much less good with far fewer laughs and reasons to wake up each day.
PLEASE, if you can spare the small change you might pay for a pricy pint or crafty kebab or that pongy packet of filthy fags you know you really ought not have, PLEASE sponsor me to do this 5k in Hyde Park on Sunday 11th September.
But why should you? WHY on EARTH would you want to give money to a charity you've possibly never heard of because some girl asks you to? And what is this endothing, anyway? This page was the start of everything changing for me. It explains very clearly what endometriosis is. It's a frightening, confusing, unspeakably painful thing to have, and to know it can't be cured, and that operations to relieve and painkillers to ease the pain don't work is a dreadful reality to have to face.
But face it we must. And it is by no means easy. And that's where Endometriosis UK is so extremely vital to millions of people. Its existence means women and girls and their families can find desperately-needed support at the end of a phone or in the online forum, to ask questions, obtain advice, find information about how to help their wife or Mum or sister or friend, to ask if others have reacted badly to this wonder drug, or to just "be with" other women who KNOW what it is to have this thing continually destroying our insides.
If you've sponsored me already - THANK-YOU.
My target for last year's race was £500, and gave about £950 to Endometriosis UK. That amount has been given to this year's and I'm aiming to get another £550 at least for Endometriosis UK, because it NEEDS to carry on - women and girls like me NEED to know there will always be someone to talk to, and that can only happen for countless people if Endometriosis UK stays alive, doing what it does. Without it and the critical comfort it gives, some days I have wished that I hadn't woken up, and I know I'm not the only woman with endometriosis who has felt or feels this way.
This year's 5k will be worse for me than last year's, even though I'll be walking. This year's treatment has been far more difficult than last year's first course of injections and HRT, despite being exactly the same formula, which was the only reason I was able to even think about doing the 5k last year, let alone DO it. Just walking to my local shops makes me very tired and achy now. This 5k lark isn't something I do, same goes for general exercise, and I don't walk fast anymore. This will hurt me, which makes it all the more important. If it was going to be an easy thing, I'm not sure it would be "worth" giving - if you know the person doing the thing is going to suffer, I think it makes you more willing to donate. And, let me assure you most truly, I will suffer the next day. And the day after that. It will hurt me. A lot.
PLEASE help, if you can, if you want to. Here is how.
Thank-you. x
