Bindi Irwin speaks out in new message after endometriosis surgery: 'I have a second chance at life'
Conservationist and TV personality Bindi Irwin is speaking out about her debilitating battle with endometriosis.
"It was just wild and the pain, fatigue, nausea that I was feeling, it was tackling my whole life," Irwin said in a new video message just two weeks after undergoing surgery for the disease.
Appearing in the video message with her mother and brother for Monday’s Endometriosis Foundation of America's Blossom Ball, an event to raise money for the foundation's outreach, education and research, Irwin shared details of her surgery, including that doctors found 37 lesions and a chocolate cyst adhered to her ovary.
"And now, for the first time in over ten years, I feel like I have a second chance at life, like my world is opening up again. I am grateful beyond description. I'm going to start crying."
The 24-year-old went on to thank her surgeon, Dr. Tamer Seckin of Lenox Hill Hospital, and his "extraordinary team."
Seckin, who is the co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, told "Good Morning America" endometriosis is often overlooked or misdiagnosed.
"It doesn't show up in any imaging. And there's no blood test … so only by laparoscopy, we can really tell by looking inside directly with a camera we can diagnose endometriosis," said Seckin.
On March 7, Irwin shared her decade-long search for answers to explain her "insurmountable fatigue, pain & nausea," writing in an Instagram post that she now feels "validation for years of pain" after finding a diagnosis and undergoing surgery to treat endometriosis.
Irwin, who said doctors initially told her the pain she had been experiencing "was simply something you deal with as a woman," wrote she shared her story as a way to fight the stigma surrounding the condition.
"I'm aware of millions of women struggling with a similar story," she said. "Let this be your validation that your pain is real & you deserve help. Keep searching for answers."
The mom to a two-year-old daughter, Grace, also shared a pointed message: "Things may look fine on the outside looking in through the window of someone’s life, however, that is not always the case. Please be gentle & pause before asking me (or any woman) when we’ll be having more children. After all that my body has gone through, I feel tremendously grateful that we have our gorgeous daughter. She feels like our family’s miracle."
On March 14, Irwin said she is "healing" and thanked fans for their support.
"I have spent the week reading your kind words and stories of strength through your own experiences with endometriosis," she wrote in an Instagram post, alongside a photo of her holding a bouquet of roses. "Thank you with all my heart for sharing."
Irwin continued, "I can finally see a new me on the journey towards better health. I can't wait to be able to focus all my energy on our family and the conservation work we are so passionate about."
What to know about endometriosis
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines endometriosis as "a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing pain and/or infertility."
Research from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has shown 11% -- or more than 6.5 million women ages 15 to 44 -- suffer from endometriosis in the U.S. and many women diagnosed with the disease also have family members who also have the condition.
Seckin said his best advice is to trust yourself if you feel like something isn't right.
"There is degrees of unacceptance, or when it comes to women's symptoms and painful periods, they don't associate with the disease," he said. "So the woman has to really pursue and find a doctor that they they will they will be taken seriously."
