I took a step forward and my mates crowded around protectively.
It was my first day of Year 7 but my period blood had leaked through my skirt and my friends were helping
to hide it.
When I got to the school nurse, there were no spare sanitary pads.
‘Here, use this to clean yourself up,’ she said, handing me a wet paper towel.
I’d started my periods at 10 years old, and they had been hell from day one.
The blood was so heavy I’d wear two pads at a time, change them every two hours, plus wear an extra pair of knickers.
The tummy and pelvic pain was absolutely excruciating, and I’d throw up too.
Mum took me back and forth to the doctors.
But we were told, ‘It’s just part of being a woman.’
At just 12, docs put me on the Pill to ease the symptoms.
But every time I came off it, they came back, alongside severe constipation, then bouts of diarrhoea.
Depressed, I dropped out of school in year 11 and took my GCSES at home.
It wasn’t until I was 22, we finally had a breakthrough.
Mum read a newspaper article about a condition called endometriosis.
‘Gabriella, this sounds just like you,’ she said.
The condition meant cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grew in other parts of the body, causing the symptoms I was battling.
Around this time I met, and eventually married, Aaron who was my rock as I continued
to struggle.
A surgical procedure called
a laparoscopy confirmed that
I had endometriosis on my left ovary and bowel.
However, I went on to have four more surgeries in total.
It was all due to the damage caused by the endometriosis spreading to my bladder, womb and Fallopian tubes.
I was also diagnosed with adenomyosis, when tissue that normally lines the uterus grows into the muscular wall of the uterus instead.
At times, I was put into a chemical menopause to ease my symptoms – yet Aaron and I both longed to have a baby.
I started documenting my experiences online and ended up meeting Anna Cooper, a fellow sufferer.
We became best friends and in 2022, we founded the charity Menstrual Health Project.
It’s a free supportive, educational resource for gynaecological health.
Alongside specialist medics, we’ve created an endometriosis diagnostic tool kit, as well as
a menstrual guide for girls under 18.
We give talks in schools and workplaces and desperately want girls and women to get the support and knowledge that we never had.
By Gabriella Pearson, 32, of Surrey
● To find out more, visit menstrualhealthproject.org.uk