Donegal woman living with endometriosis: ‘You start to think that you’re crazy’

A Ballybofey woman who has suffered with endometriosis since the age of 15 has told of her harrowing journey with the condition.

Due to a lack of adequate treatments in Ireland, Jayde Quigley had to travel to Greece earlier this year to undergo surgery.

The 25-year-old first began to experience excruciating pain at the age of 15. Medics believed that she was suffering from appendicitis.

In her Leaving Certificate year at St Columba’s College in Stranorlar, she “missed so much school and they had me on an antibiotic every day for a year”.

Jayde shared her story at an information and storytelling event in the Villa Rose Hotel last week.

During the middle of what she described as a “bad flare up” of a condition said to affect as many as one in 10 women, she presented to the emergency department at Letterkenny University Hospital.

“I was asked if I had IBS and I was barely 18 and on a waiting list for surgery, for God knows how long,” she said.

She had to repeat a year at IT Sligo due to the effects of the dibillitating condition.  

Having had surgery scheduled, the planned procedure was cancelled 48 hours beforehand due to an outbreak of Covid-19 in the hospital.

She had initial surgery in Northern Ireland in 2021, but was later told “no, you don’t have endometriosis” by a doctor.

Having been later referred to the Beacon Hospital in Dublin, she had another MRI but, due to the proximity of the previous operation, doctors were reluctant to operate again.

Due to a busy schedule, she found pelvic floor therapy difficult to commit to.

Her frustrations with the Irish healthcare system turned into anger when first told that an MRI was clear and then that endometriosis was “superficial and we can’t do anything for you”.

“In February last year, I felt that my life was shit and I couldn’t go anywhere,” she said.

Working up to 60 hours a week to save the €4,500 for essential surgery, she was informed that if she paid €1,000 in cash that the operation could be got for a cheaper price.

Kathleen King, an endometriosis advocate who lives in Letterkenny, spoke with her and advised that surgeons in Ireland wrestle not adequately trained in the procedure.

Last summer, Jayde, a sister of professional boxer Jason Quigley, travelled to Romania for an MRI.

“That was the first time I ever got a diagnosis,” she said. “They brought myself and Dannan (O’Kane, her boyfriend) in and explained why I was having these different symptoms.”

Read next: 'Left in Limbo’: Donegal women forced abroad for endometriosis care

After being diagnosed - and after undergoing counselling due to the lasting effects of the journey she had to endure - she had surgery in Greece, where endometriosis was removed from multiple sites.

“I don’t want any other girls to go through this,” she said. “You start to think that you’re crazy in the head sometimes. I don’t want other girls to think that they’re crazy.”