Endofound Blossom Ball 2016
8th Annual Blossom Ball
My experience with endometriosis is that it is a really painful, chronic disease that so many women would not be diagnosed with because it in some ways it mimics the symptoms of what doctors think of as just typical menstruation. I also think it is a disease that does not get the attention it deserves so much so because it is about the reproductive system and that is like such a hotly contested subject in this country and people do not really want to talk about women’s bodies.
What is so great about what Padma and Dr. Seckin and Endofound are doing is bringing attention, and also financial resources, to a disease that is really little understood considering it affects almost ten percent of women. My personal experience has been really different than the norm because I am lucky enough to have an amazing doctor and to be able to pay for certain services out of pocket and create my own schedule. That is something so many women with endometriosis cannot do. I think really this event is for them and to research ways to make their lives more bearable.
I have only been diagnosed with endometriosis for the last five years and it is only in the last two years, two and a half years that I was public about it. The minute I became public about it I realized just how many women it affected and just how deeply it affected them and I feel really lucky that I have had the opportunity to meet people like Padma and meet other women who are public and open about it and so willing to share their experience.
For me, it is mixed feelings. Every minute of every day, you know, on the one hand we have been doing this for six years, and I think all of us are really, really excited by the opportunity to pursue new things; on the other hand these people are family. Alison Williams is here with me tonight to present me with my award and I feel like these women are my sisters and this experience has been so incredible. It is really bittersweet, right now feeling a little more bitter than sweet.
