One Year On: A Reflection
July 15th marks one year since I attended the Dáil for Sinn Féin’s Endometriosis motion.
Just days later, I was blue-lighted by ambulance to hospital.
Looking back, it’s hard to believe everything that has happened in the twelve months since.
I’ve returned to the Dáil on numerous occasions, sharing my lived experience of navigating Ireland’s healthcare system, housing crisis, and the impact of sexual violence. I also had the opportunity to meet with the Minister for Health to discuss the urgent need for change.
It’s been one of the toughest years of my life.
I travelled to Romania to consult with a specialist many people highly recommended. Unfortunately, my experience was deeply upsetting. During our consultation, he had another Irish woman’s medical file instead of mine. After a lifetime of navigating complex healthcare, I know what compassionate, patient-centred care feels like—and this wasn’t it. I came home feeling traumatised rather than reassured.
I returned to Ireland just in time to attend the launch of the National Endometriosis Framework at the Department of Health—a moment that gave me hope despite everything.
This year also brought positives. I joined an incredible community of survivors campaigning to end gender-based violence, and I qualified for the ESAIS programme. In May, I travelled to London for further assessment. While my condition is currently considered too complex for surgery with the specialist I saw, I remain under monitoring while I continue searching for a surgeon with the appropriate expertise.
Today, around seven weeks after my London assessment, I’m attending further scans. Like many living with complex endometriosis, I can’t help but wonder whether the clinicians monitoring me have the specialist training needed to fully understand my disease. Medical trauma is real, and every appointment carries that weight.
That’s why the recent announcement that endometriosis services will include dedicated mental health supports is such significant news. It recognises something so many of us have been saying for years: this disease doesn’t only affect our bodies—it affects every aspect of our lives.
I was diagnosed in 2005. For two decades, progress felt painfully slow. Yet when I look back over the last year alone, so much has changed in Ireland. We now have a National Endometriosis Framework, the ESAIS programme, increasing political engagement, greater public awareness, and continued conversations about improving diagnosis, specialist care, and now mental health support.
There is still a very long road ahead. We need specialist centres, better access to multidisciplinary care, improved diagnostics, accountability, and timely treatment. But for the first time in a long time, it feels like progress is happening.
To some, these changes may seem small.
To those of us who have waited years—even decades—to be heard, they are monumental.
Thank you to everyone who has signed, shared and supported this petition. Your support is helping keep this conversation alive, and together we will continue pushing until every person with endometriosis receives the care, dignity and respect they deserve.
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