Grace Tame reveals unexpected health diagnosis
After years of dismissing her symptoms, including chronic pelvic pain and vomiting, Grace Tame has revealed that she has endometriosis.
Tame, an activist for survivors of sexual assault, is among the one in nine Australian women and girls who suffer from the debilitating disease, which mostly affects the reproductive organs.
She announced the news in an Instagram post on Tuesday morning and revealed that she underwent surgery to remove the endometriosis from her bowel, pelvic walls and sacral ligaments on May 24.
The former Australian of the Year, initially ignored the symptoms thinking it was due to her traumatic experiences of child sex abuse that she endured when she was 15-years-old, but only recently discovered the actual cause of her pain.
"It’s easy to fall into the trap of internalising trauma to our detriment," she said.
"I always assumed persistent sexual abuse alone caused my chronic pelvic pain, and learned to disassociate from most of it.
"The episodes of violent sickness I put down to food poisoning. That is, until the end of 2022, when I began vomiting weekly into early 2023.
"After negative screenings for Crohn’s, coeliac and IBD, my cousin Morgan encouraged me to see a gynaecologist for the first time in over a decade."
She added that her gynaecologist suspected endo, and later on confirmed the diagnosis in a laparoscopic operation.
"Surgery went smoothly, and as I write this, I can’t help but feel extremely grateful to be where I am, even if removal isn’t the panacea for this disease,” she said, hoping to raise more awareness for the disease.
“Grateful knowing, in the absence of both prevention and cure, there are still options, and we’re not alone," she said.
She also added that she was grateful for the support of her friends and family, and for being able to afford and access treatment.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), there were 40,500 endometriosis-related hospitalisations in 2021–22, with this rate doubling in the past decade.
In May's federal budget, the government announced a $49.1m investment into tackling endometriosis.
From July 1, 2025, women suffering from endometriosis will have longer specialist consultations of 45 minutes or more covered under Medicare.
Images: Instagram