Health / Esmé ‘shocked’ by huge response to endometriosis fundraiser
A TEENAGER newly diagnosed with endometriosis has scaled 10 summits in Edinburgh throughout March to raise vital funds for the UK charity which supports sufferers.
Esmé Capp hiked 10 hills across the capital throughout the month, including Castle Rock and Arthur’s Seat, along with a friend who also has endometriosis.
The pair have raised £1,535 for Endometriosis UK – the national charity for sufferers of the disease – which is three times their initial goal of £500.
Capp, 19, said they had to increase their fundraising target three times over March after an overwhelming response to a Shetland News story about her diagnosis early last month.
“I’m just so grateful and shocked that so many people would donate to it,” she said. “It’s been crazy.
“The response to the story was incredible, but also really said that this is also so many other people’s experiences.
“It shouldn’t be happening to that amount of people.”
The teenager outlined last month her five-year long struggle to get a diagnosis for the disease, which she only eventually secured after her parents paid for her to get private treatment on the mainland.
Endometriosis is where cells similar to those in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body, and can cause debilitating pain during menstruation and ovulation.
Capp, who also has mobility issues, said she really enjoyed the challenge of scaling 10 summits in Edinburgh to raise money.
“We did three in one day, from Castle Rock to Arthur’s seat,” she said.
“We climbed one and I needed to sit down almost immediately, so we sat next to this elderly couple from Cardiff.
“I told them we were doing a fundraiser and they told us that their daughter also had endometriosis and had just been diagnosed.
“It was like, ‘what are the chances’. It was a prime example of how this is a really common thing.”
Capp said the woman later donated to their fundraiser, in a “really sweet” full circle moment.
She is currently awaiting diagnosis for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, better known as POTS, which can cause a racing heart rate, dizziness and fatigue.
She said she was asked to do a 24-hour long electrocardiogram (ECG), which revealed her maximum heart rate was 195 beats per minute – almost double what it should be.
“I didn’t realise how much energy I was burning just by walking up a hill,” she said.
“I just had to kind of take it easier, so I felt a real sense of accomplishment when it was finished.”
Capp is now awaiting surgery for her endometriosis, which was finally diagnosed in February of this year.
The operation was originally due to take place in December, but she is due to start her third year of university at Edinburgh Napier in January.
“The recovery should take two weeks, but it also could take three months or longer,” she said.
“I don’t want it to affect university, I want to graduate with my friends. The only way I can do that is not to defer a year.”
The teenager admitted that she did not want to have the surgery at all, and that she was “really worried about it”.
“It’s just a lot of decisions I don’t want to have to make,” she said.
“It just seems to have come a bit quick.
“The other option is, if my medication is working, possibly wait until I finish third year.
“But then I could spend the summer lying in bed because I can’t walk, and that sounds horrible.”
She added that deferring her surgery would leave her worried about whether the endometriosis would be “still growing”, which could then make any operation harder.
“Every time I have a symptom or pain I’m reminded of that fact that I have this,” she said.
“If I get a pain in my ribs I’m like, ‘oh great, it’s reached my diaphragm’.
“I can never really stop thinking about it. It can get a bit worrying that it’s going to be horrible forever.”
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