Endometriosis: Woman faces £15,000 op to save bowel after doctors 'laughed' off her pain

Charlie Weldon, 25, says she knew something was wrong from her very first period at aged 12 - but claims doctors told her that her debilitating pain was normal for more than 10 years. Charlie, from Cambridge, took the decision to pay to see an endometriosis specialist privately at the end of 2024 after NHS doctors made her feel crazy. Actor and part-time barista Charlie says she has to plan her life around her period' and the painful condition has a detrimental impact on her social and work life.

She is now trying to raise the £15,000 needed to help her pay for surgery to remove the vaginal, rectal and bowel endometrial tissue privately. Charlie fears that if she waits the estimated three-to-five years for surgery on the NHS then she could risk losing bowel function - and be left wearing a stoma bag.

Charlie said: “I think I first noticed that something was wrong in my body from my very first period when I was around 12 years old. I voiced those concerns to doctors and people around me but there was always this underlying feeling of women just deal with this, so learn to cope. But it just continued and got worse into my adult life.

Charlie, who is sometimes left in so much pain that she can't stand, claims she was even laughed at by doctors who made her feel like she was imagining the pain.

Charlie said: “I've been laughed at by doctors. I've been told that I could be making up the pain and it could be a psychological thing. It got to the point where I truly started to believe that maybe I was insane. Maybe I was making this pain up. All of these horrible things I know now are not true. But when you're young and vulnerable and you've got all of these doctors telling you that you're imaging it - it's so hard to rationalise in your head and feel like a normal person.”

Charlie estimates that she has visited her doctors more than 50 times in the past decade to try and get answers about her heavy, painful periods. Charlie made the decision to go private and pay to see an endometriosis specialist in December 2024, after the daily pain became unbearable. After undergoing a private MRI scan with an endometriosis specialist, Charlie was diagnosed with vaginal, rectal and bowel endometriosis in December 2024. Endometriosis is where cells similar to those in the lining of the uterus grow in other parts of the body and can affect organs such as the bladder and bowel.

Symptoms include severe period pains, heavy periods and pain in the lower tummy or back. Charlie says she broke down in the doctors after receiving the diagnosis which she had waited over half her life for. Charlie said: “It was such a double-edged moment I think because I was so relieved and felt so validated in my claim that I wasn't going crazy. But at the same time I just felt so let down that I had gone all these years believing that what I was experiencing was normal.”

Charlie says that the pain completely 'rules her life' and 'decides when' she can work and socialise.

Charlie said: “This disease that I have is completely ruling my life. It decides when I work, when I can relax and when I can see my friends. It takes such a mental toll. I'm only 25 but I feel like I can't behave like a normal 25-year-old at the minute.”

While there is no complete cure for endometriosis, Charlie will now undergo surgery in the hopes of alleviating some of her pain and making the condition more manageable. The part-time barista hopes that the surgery will help to improve her symptoms for up to five years. The procedure will involve removing the top of her bowel, removing any endo tissue from the affected areas, and removing any adhesions between her organs that are currently stuck together.

Charlie said: “I know that surgically there's no cure to endometriosis and they can't completely rid me of all of my symptoms. I will deal with this for the rest of my life and it will probably grow back but we're really trying to take it a step at a time.”

Because the endometriosis is also located on her bowel, Charlie fears she could risk losing all bowel function and be left wearing a stoma bag if she waits three to five years to have the surgery on the NHS.

Charlie said: “The idea is that because I'm so young and the extent it already is in my body, they [the doctors] don't want to risk leaving it and it growing very quickly and completely perforating my bowel and me having to have a stoma bag put in.

“I'm not comfortable waiting for the NHS because the wait times mean that when it does come to surgery I would have a much more advanced endometriosis which would be a lot harder to treat. I have been told by my surgeon that he's happy to refer me back to the NHS but the wait time just to speak to a gynaecologist - not even a specialist - is 18 months.

“After that, I would have to get referred to a specialist and then the wait time for a surgery like this would be between three and five years. I am so grateful to the NHS and I really appreciate the lengths they have to go to to give everyone the care that they need, but for me personally it just doesn't seem feasible to me.”

Charlie has set up a GoFundMe page in order to try and raise a portion of the money needed to pay for the £15,000 surgery. Within five days of setting up the fundraiser on Friday January 24, Charlie has already raised more than £4,300 of her £5,500 target.

Charlie, who is only able to work part time due to the pain that her condition leaves her in, said: “I have just been completely taken aback and overwhelmed by the amount of support and donations I have had so far. It really just goes to show that there are so many people dealing with this. The amount of people that have messaged me to say that they're dealing with this, or their mum is, or their best friend - I'm starting to grasp how many of us are suffering and not being taken seriously.

“That's another great thing that's come from this that as well as raising donations, in my own small way I am helping to raise awareness for people who aren't clear on what endometriosis is because it needs to be talked about more.”

A Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “Our advice to any patient who has concerns about the treatment they receive at Cambridge University Hospitals is to contact our Patient and Advisory Liaison Service (PALS) since we will always investigate them. This is because patient satisfaction is hugely important to us. Treatment for all conditions is prioritised according to clinical need.”

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System have been approached for comment.