Cassi Ebright began feeling endometriosis symptoms when she was 11. She wouldn’t be diagnosed until she was 27, gaslit by nearly every doctor she encountered. Today, four years post-surgery, Cassi’s doing well, and she’s excited to use her time and talent this month to help other women who are struggling.
Ebright will host the “Clam Ball 2024 EMO/Rock Dance Party and Endometriosis Fundraiser” from 7 P.M. to 12:30 A.M. on Saturday, Oct. 26, at Fenders in Columbus, Ohio. Ebright will perform with her band, Stage Five Clinger, while her husband, Jacob, will play with his band, Lost Past Everest. Admission is $5, and the evening will include a silent auction and a special cocktail menu. Ebright will donate 50 percent of the admission fee and sales from the cocktail menu, along with 100 percent of all other money raised, to EndoFound.
“I went so many years without a diagnosis. Multiple grown men looked at me and told me it was just anxiety,” Ebright said. “But now I’m surrounded by such incredible men—my husband, the guys in my band, the owner at Fenders. They’ve all been there for me and encouraged me to throw an event like this.”
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Ebright had her first period when she was eight. Her endometriosis symptoms began three years later with heavy periods and pain. One doctor suggested she might have endometriosis. Ebright had never heard of it, and nothing more was said about it after that appointment. Two years later, she would switch doctors.
“At around 13 or 14, my periods became unbearable. I was sick, couldn’t walk, and a heating pad and ibuprofen were never enough,” Ebright said. “So the doctor put me on birth control.”
While the medication brought some relief, chronic abdominal pain would resurface two years later.
“That’s when the doctors said it was anxiety,” Ebright said. “I had a bellyache because I was nervous all the time.”
She remained on birth control through high school, college, and into her mid-20s. She went to the ER multiple times for the pain, and after being sent home each time with no solutions, she learned to deal with it on her own. But at 25, the pain hit a new extreme.
“I was having stomach and bladder pain, and I was stopping in my tracks and keeling over wherever I went,” Ebright said. “They told me to keep taking the birth control, that it had to be the placebos causing it. And every time I’d go to the ER, they’d offer me pain pills. I’d say, ‘No, I don’t want pain pills! I want you to fix me!’”
The following two years were a nightmare.
“I went from doctor to doctor, and each of them just assumed I needed a different kind of birth control,” Ebright said. “I was on one that gave me early signs of stroke symptoms. Another one made me bleed for two and a half months. Endometriosis was never a thought to anybody, and I just assumed I was defective and broken. That would lead me to take mental health medication because if you’re a professional telling me it’s all anxiety, I’m going to believe you.”
At 27, she was referred to a urologist who told her she likely had endometriosis. The urologist sent her to an endometriosis specialist, who agreed Ebright had the disease.
“She just held me after she examined me. I was finally heard,” Ebright said. “In November 2020, I went in for surgery. When I came out, she said, ‘I’m so sorry you’ve been suffering like this for so long.’ The endometriosis was all over my bowels, my bladder—she saved my life.”
Ebright continued on birth control for a few years but came off it about a year ago.
“I still have some weird symptoms, but my normal day-to-day is good,” Ebright said. “I listen to my body now and treat myself holistically through diet and exercise. The first couple of days of my period are still hard, but after that, life moves on. My quality of life is definitely on the up and up.”
Ebright found EndoFound through a Google search and sees her fundraiser for the organization as a way to help the endometriosis community at large. She’s received numerous donations from the Columbus community for the auction, including concert tickets, a live painting, and items from Lion’s Den and Adam & Eve Stores. Ebright aims to raise $1,500, though any amount will make her happy.
“It’s going to be more than four hours of live music in a sex-positive, fun, happy, endometriosis-fundraiser environment,” Ebright said. “And all while raising awareness and giving educational information to anyone who wants it.”
