Young dancer's dreams crushed as debilitating condition takes toll on body

A young dancer was forced to give up her dreams of becoming a professional after being diagnosed with devastating health condition endometriosis.

Brodie Reekie has the condition, which sees cells similar to the ones found in the lining of the womb in other parts of the body.

The 21-year-old was in hospital for a routine procedure for the condition, when medics discovered it was advanced and had spread inside her bladder.

Brodie, of East Linton, East Lothian, was told she was between stage three and four - the most severe stage of the condition - Edinburgh Live reports.

Brodie says she was forced to go private for the procedure after living with daily pain and being offered to join a one year NHS waiting list.

She said: "Every month, I would be in pain the week before my period, then the week during and week after. I had around one week each month where I was not in pain - If I was lucky.

"A very short time each month I'd be okay, I would feel like me and I felt like I had to do everything so I could actually have fun.

"I didn’t know what endometriosis was or any symptoms to look out for. Like most people I was told 'It’s just a bad period' or 'It’ll get better when you get older'.

“I’m happy I have been diagnosed now but I’m 21-years-old and I want to live my life, I want to act like I don’t have a chronic illness even though I do.”

Endometriosis is a condition which can affect women of any age, including teenagers. Tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

The condition can affect women of any age, including teenagers. It is a long-term condition that can have a significant impact on your life, but there are treatments that can help.

The average length of time from the onset of symptoms to diagnosis is around seven and a half years. Brodie stresses that she has an early diagnosis and that people usually don’t get diagnosed so early.

She said the only reason she got diagnosed was that she went private. She said: “It got to the point where my parents couldn't bear to see me in any more pain and said we do not care how much it costs, we are getting you the surgery.”

Brodie had her surgery in December 2023 and says she is still on the waiting list for her initial gynaecology appointment which has been over a year now.

She had danced her entire life before her pain worsened and currently works in a Gastro Pub in East Linton and does photography work for the National Trust of Scotland.

She said: "I Love dancing, and I miss dancing. It just felt that I had to do something so that I could be my own boss because of my endometriosis. It felt like I couldn’t do what I originally really wanted to."

Her symptoms were pain in her lower stomach and pelvic area, but also pain in her legs. She said: "I used to get full-leg pain, and the only way to get rid of it was to elevate my legs.

"During college I can remember lying at the back of the room with my legs elevated just listening in to the class. I don’t think that is a common thing for a lot of people with endometriosis, but it is for me.

"After finding out that it is linked to the disease I was like well that makes a lot of sense!" She added: "I got my first period in high school. I used to be so faint when I had them.

"At lunchtime, everyone walked and stood around and I had to have friends on either side of me, linking arms so they could hold me up."

Brodie says there are days the pain is so severe that she feels very dizzy and even feels like she’s had lots of painkillers and is ‘out of it’.

She said: "There are days that I have had to go home from plans or work because the pain is that severe and can't even stand. Brodie says that the surgery has helped diagnose her condition but the pain is still present."

She said: "I really thought that I would have the surgery and my life would immediately be better. I feel stuck now, I don't know what to do now."

The 21-year-old says she will be looking to get another surgery in hopes that her pain will be reduced. Failing that, there is a surgery to make her bladder smaller which may reduce the risk of the endometriosis returning.

She had a review appointment in January after her surgery. Brodie said the doctor had asked how she was, and when she replied that she was still in a lot of pain, she said he was very shocked.

Brodie said: "I’m so happy I am talking about it and sharing about endometriosis but it’s difficult. I’m known as always being late, or not coming to things because I’m always ill. You can never understand the pain unless you’re in it."

Brodie recently did a sponsored shave to raise some money for The Endometriosis Foundation, saying it has resources to educate people by raising awareness and providing trusted and transparent information, education and support.

She said: “The reason I shaved my head was that I was in control of that. I’m not in control of my endometriosis so I said to myself I’m gonna shave my hair off, and I’m gonna raise money from it.”

The photographer is keen to go into schools and teach them about endometriosis, the symptoms and what to look out for.

She is very keen for the boys in schools to learn about it too since a lot of males that she has spoken to about it including her family, had no idea what the condition was or had ever heard of it.

She added: "I’d have loved to have known about Endometriosis when I was in high school because then when I left high school and the pain was getting worse, I could have asked my GP about it sooner."

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