‘The pain was so bad…I begged the consultant to do a laparoscopy’

A LOCAL running club presented a cheque of almost €5,000 to the Endometriosis Association of Ireland last week, after raising the money at their annual St Patrick’s Day 5k race.

The race by Tallaght Athletics Club was directed by Derek Quinn and organised by Sarah Kinsella, with Sarah having her own experience of living with endometriosis.

The condition causes tissue similar to the lining of the womb to grow in other places, and the main symptoms are excessive menstrual cramps, heavy menstrual flow and pain during intercourse.

“I was first diagnosed 20- odd years ago,” Sarah told The Echo.

“They did a laparoscopy and burned the tissue off, then did it again another couple of years after.

“In 2022, I had severe pain that wasn’t stereotypical endometriosis pain, and when I went to A&E with it, the pain was so bad they thought it might’ve been gallstones.

“They couldn’t find anything wrong, so I begged the consultant to do a laparoscopy.”

A gynaecologist then investigated the issue and found that the tissue growth caused by endometriosis had spread to other areas of Sarah’s body, including her liver, lungs and diaphragm.

“When he went in to investigate, he found the tissue in the normal areas but also on every organ I had,” explained Sarah.

Sarah now receives treatment to manage the condition by attending appointments every month and is also planning to have a hysterectomy in the near future.

Her experiences motivated her to suggest the Endometriosis Association as the beneficiary of this year’s annual St Patrick’s Day 5k run in Tallaght AC, which club members swiftly got on board with.

Over 500 runners took part, and €1 from each entry fee was donated to the cause, but other members set up fundraising pages to raise even more money for the charity.

The top fundraisers were Conor Casey, Kelly Evans, Adam Curley, Leah Fynes and Ayisha Lightbourne, and the run was sponsored by Tallaght Credit Union.

When asked how she felt about the amount raised, Sarah said: “I couldn’t believe it.

“It was only a small race, and compared to the other sports clubs in Tallaght like Shamrock Rovers and Thomas Davis, we’re quite small.

“The last couple of years 300 or 400 people would come to the race, but this year there were up to 600 people.

“The atmosphere from start to finish was electric, it was one of those days where you wish you could bottle up the atmosphere.”

Some of the runners had come from further afield as they wanted to support the event as it was raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting a charity that many of them had used.

Sarah added that, alongside raising money for the charity, she hopes the race also helped to raise awareness of endometriosis in the wider community.

“I would just like to get the awareness out there for women,” she said.

“And the Endometriosis Association is a charity, but they’ve removed the charge for membership, so they don’t have funding from that, but they need funding to get endometriosis out there.”

For more information visit the Endometriosis Association of Ireland website, where you can find out more about the condition and can sign up for free membership if affected.