Abbey Lee Kershaw opens up about endometriosis diagnosis and health journey for Endometriosis Awareness Month

Abbey Lee Kershaw spent 20 years searching for answers to explain her chronic pain.

The Australian model and actress, who now primarily goes by Abbey Lee, was ultimately diagnosed with endometriosis.

Now she has answers, she’s determined to spread awareness to help the one in seven women and people assigned female at birth who may find themselves in the same situation.

“For those who don’t know, two years ago, I finally found a brilliant doctor who saw me as a whole person, not just a collection of symptoms,” she wrote on Instagram.

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“After 20 years of searching for answers to my chronic pain, he suggested surgery to look for endometriosis.

“What was expected to be a 20-minute procedure turned into a nearly three-hour operation.

“He discovered that endometriosis had spread across my entire uterus, forming glue-like lesions that were suffocating my organs.”

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It took asking a lot of medical professionals and advocating for her health time and time again for Abbey to learn that she had the endometriosis – a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body.

So now, the star is intentionally vocal about her experience.

“I talk about this as much as possible because speaking about it led me to the right help,” Abbey continued.

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“In 20 years, not a single specialist across countless different fields suggested endometriosis as a possibility.

“Instead, it was a woman I love dearly – who collapsed and was hospitalised, where doctors found endometriosis tumors – who called me and said, ‘I think you have endo’.

“When we speak to each other, we can help each other. This includes people without endo too! You never know where your words end up and who they manage to reach.”

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Abbey has opened up about her diagnosis in the past but this time she is doing so in partnership with Endometriosis Australia as one of their ambassadors- a partnership she feels “very honoured” to take part in.

“I am one in seven who suffer from endometriosis and as some of you may know March is endometriosis awareness month,” Abbey said in an accompanying video.

Watch the video above.

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“I just wanted to say that I am super delighted and super excited to say that I will now be one of Endometriosis Australia’s ambassadors and I really look forward to continuing to raise awareness alongside such a wonderful group of people.”

Understanding the challenges of the disease, Abbey added that her DMs are open for those who wish to speak about it.

Her post was embellished with yellow emojis as “yellow is the colour which coincides with endometriosis awareness.”

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