Endofound Blossom Ball 2016
8th Annual Blossom Ball
Susan Sarandon
I am very happy that it worked out that I could be here. Padma was already well on the path of using her celebrity to educate, mostly educate, which is the big step with endometriosis to make women understand that they do not have to suffer. You know this is such a cultural subversive thing that is going on here because we are taught to just put up with these things and that “this is part of being a woman”. I think it informs a lot of our attitude about what we tolerate in life and what we do not. So, to attack this one area and educate so many nurses, and so many schools, and so many girls and to tell them that this is not part of being a woman; that they should really check it out, something can be done and to do it before it gets really out of hand. Padma has done this and she has done it when she is doing a lot of other things at the same time and also being a mum and to pull this ball together every year; and to have so much money raised to go towards education because it is so very important. I salute Lena Dunham for sharing her story also because she reaches so many people too and she is obviously on the way to using her celebrity for educational purposes and just to encourage other women to be the protagonist in their own lives also.
I thank all of you for coming out. God knows there are so many things going on all the time and endometriosis was a word that I do not think that people even knew how to say let alone spell a few years ago. Through the efforts of Padma and the rest of the people in her group it really now is something that people are not ashamed to talk about. For some reason there was also a lot of shame about it, like, you know, if something goes wrong with that part of you that is female then you must be less female or something, I do not know. But you know it is like also what happens when someone has a miscarriage. That has to be a big secret. Well, endometriosis was of that same family where you just do not talk about it. Through the efforts of this woman and everybody else at the foundation so much has been accomplished in this short period of time. It is because of your donations and because of the programs that have gone into schools that this is happening.
I thank you all for coming and am very grateful to get a Blossom or whatever it is I get tonight. I do not know what it is but I am really happy about it. And I am happy that we can have this delicious fried chicken and it was worth just hearing this lovely valentine from Padma. You do not get a chance to tell your friends that often how much they mean to you and I. It was worth making the trip just to hear this. I thank you very much, and all of you for being here. If you love your friends you should tell them right now. Thank you.
