On Tuesday (March 7), Bindi Irwin posted a photo of herself from a hospital bed. She revealed in her lengthy caption that she decided to undergo surgery after battling “insurmountable fatigue, pain & nausea” for the last ten years.
Like many other women, when Bindi began feeling this pain ten years ago, she saw a doctor. The doctor told her it was “simply something you deal with as a woman.” Because a doctor told her it was normal, she continued on with her life, pushing through the pain.
One day, her friend Leslie Mosier told her that it isn’t normal to live like that, and encouraged her to go to another doctor. She found the Seckin Endometriosis Center in New York City, who helped her “regain” her life.
“I decided to undergo surgery for endometriosis,” she wrote. “Going in for surgery was scary but I knew I couldn’t live like I was. Every part of my life was getting torn apart because of the pain.”
One very important part of her life, is her daughter Grace and husband Chandler Powell.
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Bindi decided to share her 10-year endometriosis journey in the first week of March, which happens to be Endometriosis Awareness Month.
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According to the Mayo Clinic, Endometriosis is an extremely painful disorder where “tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus.”
Endometriosis causes pain during periods and can cause fertility problems. Many celebrities have spoken out about their endometriosis journeys including Julianne Hough and Amy Schumer.
Bindi revealed that her surgeons found “37 lesions, some very deep & difficult to remove, & a chocolate cyst.”
The first words her surgeon, Dr. Seckin said to her post-surgery were, ““How did you live with this much pain?”
She went on to thank the doctors and nurses who finally listened and believed her, thanking her friends and family for understanding why she continuously cancelled plans due to her pain.
Bindi finished her post by saying, “Please be gentle & pause before asking me (or any woman) when we’ll be having more children. After all that my body has gone through, I feel tremendously grateful that we have our gorgeous daughter. She feels like our family’s miracle.”
She continued, “I’m aware of millions of women struggling with a similar story. There’s stigma around this awful disease. I’m sharing my story for anyone who reads this & is quietly dealing with pain & no answers. Let this be your validation that your pain is real & you deserve help. Keep searching for answers.”
See Bindi’s full post below.