- She had surgery for endometriosis following a decade-long fight with the uterine illness.
- Irwin’s posts fell on International Women’s Day as well as Endometriosis Awareness Month.
- Pelvic pain, heavy bleeding during periods, and reproductive concerns are all possible symptoms.
Bindi Irwin, an Australian conservationist, disclosed Wednesday that she had surgery for endometriosis following a decade-long fight with the uterine illness.
“For 10 years I’ve struggled with insurmountable fatigue, pain, and nausea,” Irwin shared in posts on social media alongside an image of her in a hospital bed.
“A doctor told me it was simply something you deal with as a woman and I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.”
Irwin’s posts fell on International Women’s Day as well as Endometriosis Awareness Month.
Endometriosis is “a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus,” according to the United States National Institutes of Health.
Pelvic pain, heavy bleeding during periods, and reproductive concerns are all possible symptoms.
Irwin, 24, said doctors had found 37 lesions, some of which were “very deep and difficult to remove,” but she was now “on the road to recovery.”
“I’m sharing my story for anyone who reads this and is quietly dealing with pain and no answers. Let this be your validation that your pain is real and you deserve help,” she added.
The condition can affect anyone of reproductive age who has a uterus, but it is most frequent in women in their 30s and 40s. According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in every ten people born with a uterus has endometriosis. Globally, the disease affects around 190 million women and girls.
Irwin is a celebrity conservationist who has been in the reality TV show “Crikey! It’s the Irwins,” which follows her family’s activities at the Australia Zoo in Queensland, which her mother runs.
She won “Dancing With the Stars” in 2015 and hails from a conservationist family, including her late father Steve, the late “Crocodile Hunter,” who was murdered by a stingray while filming in the Gerat Barrier Reef in 2006.
She gave birth to a daughter, Grace, in March 2021.
“Please be gentle and pause before asking me (or any woman) when we’ll be having more children,” Irwin wrote in her post-Wednesday. “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.”
Soon after her posts, her family took to social media to share their support.
Her husband Chandler Powell said, “Seeing how you pushed through the pain to take care of our family and continue our conservation work while being absolutely riddled with endometriosis is something that will inspire me forever.”
Irwin’s brother Robert added on Instagram, “You never know who’s suffering in silence, let’s make this a topic that we all freely talk about.”
Irwin is the latest in a long line of celebrities to speak up about their endometriosis difficulties.
Amy Schumer detailed her decades-long fight with what she dubbed a “lonely disease” in a docuseries broadcast by Paramount Plus last year. Schumer had her uterus removed in 2021 and documented the procedure on Instagram. Lena Dunham and Padma Lakshmi, both comedians, have spoken up about their experiences with the condition.
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