Star#1: Follow Gabrielle On Her Journey Living With a Chronic Illness

“I can honestly say that I am that girl that lost everything: my job, my relationship, my apartment, and even my health, for a short period of time. But I am reclaiming my time.”

I suffer from endometriosis. I was diagnosed in April 2017, and it affected my life
tremendously. At the time, I lost my job a few months prior because I was missing work a lot due to being ill, but I did not know the cause. At that time, I was living in Ireland, in a small town called Cork, with my then fiancé.

Endometriosis is a disease that affects 1 in 10 women in the world, yet it took me
over 8 years to get diagnosed. Back in Ireland, my gynecologist found a cyst on my ovary that was only getting bigger and bigger. I was sent to do an MRI, and we found out my cyst was 15 cm and was placed on my ovary. So I was booked for an operation.

The operation, due to my endometriosis diagnosis, resulted in the removal of the cyst and my ovary in the process. I was then left with one ovary, a non-curable disease and confusion. The day after my operation, my then fiancé called my parents to “postpone” our traditional wedding that was due in two months, saying that I was really weak and it was best to do it when I was feeling better. From there, the relationship went downhill.

A month later, I went back to France with my mom, who had come to Ireland to care for me. Needless to say that a few months later, at the end of 2017, my fiancé and I ended the relationship.

But let me tell you this: by the time I moved back to France in May 2017, I had been out of a job for 10 months. But in June 2017, two months after my operation, I found a new job. I started making money again and my self-esteem went right back up.

In France, I had my fair share of bad doctors who prescribed artificial menopause shots that almost killed me. However, thanks to my community of endosisters like Endowhat, Endoeducation, Endofrance and Newyorkendometriosis on Instagram, I found a good doctor that I met in January 2018. I stopped the artificial menopause shots, got on a new treatment and things started picking up for me.

In 2018, my health went from miserable to OK very quickly. I was getting over the
breakup, so my stress level went down and my new treatment seemed to be working, so my pain level also went down. I stopped missing work so my money went up.

I can honestly say that I am that girl that lost everything: my job, my relationship, my
apartment, and even my health, for a short period of time. But I am reclaiming my time. I even went on wonderful holidays this year in Greece and Morocco–something that I was scared to do a few months back, suffering from a chronic illness and being under the wrong treatment.

Today, I am now spending time with my family after being away for six years. I am also glad to be happily single and working on myself. I recently started a YouTube channel, where I aim to raise awareness about endometriosis and display that you can be chronically ill and chronically fabulous!

Gabrielle, 29

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