Fatou Jome, Gambian American qualified medical office assistant with an additional degree in communications and public relations who lives in Minnesota is an entrepreneur in the beauty business and most importantly the CEO and Founder of Let’s Fight Endo organization.
This young woman educating general public about disease called Endometriosis with strong determination to contribute her quota to the fight against this disease affects over 176 million women around the world – for her outstanding role in the fight against the disease, in this interview with Yunus S Saliu she speaks on the pains women folk goes through, the organization forthcoming event, what it is like being an endometriosis warrior and among other things. Excerpts:
The Voice: In brief, can you tell your reader about Let’s Fight Endo
F Jome: Let’s Fight Endo is an endometriosis awareness organization set up to help women in Africa access better diagnosis, treatment, mental, emotional support. Educating the General public about the disease is one of our major goals. Let’s Fight Endo is non-profit and has been operational since 2018 as a registered organization in The Gambia and the United States. As the CEO of Let’s Fight Endometriosis, I am determined to contribute my quota to the fight against a disease that affects over 176 million women worldwide. Being a victim of the disease, I am determined to help other women, especially those in rural Africa to fight the disease, a lot of these women have no idea what their condition is.
The Voice: Give a quick rundown few of the activities of Let’s Fight Endo so far
F Jome: The organization was set up in 2018 and so most of our activities have surrounded soliciting donations for treatment packs and funds for women in The Gambia who require such. Our first major event was scheduled for March 2020 in Minnesota but due to the Covid-19 restrictions it was canceled. The Let’s Fight Endo Walk 2021 will be our first major event as an organization in Africa and it’s scheduled to take place during endometriosis month. The walk, in Gambia is planned to draw a lot of attention to the impact of the disease on local women and to educate the general public. Quite a lot of these women will go home with medical gift packs from our organization to help them manage their pain and vitamins.
The Voice: What prompted you to establish this organization?
F Jome: My personal experience with Endometriosis. I have been living in America for most of my life and even with the best medical system I had troubles being diagnosed properly. I was going through pain for so many years and in and out of the hospital because I couldn’t handle my monthly period pains and no one really understood what I was going through physically, emotional and mentally. But I knew there was something wrong that was beyond monthly period pains. My experience with living with the disease in a country where almost all your medical needs are provided for inspired me to set up an organization that will help women who don’t understand their period and infertile due to Endometriosis.
The Voice: Being an endometriosis warrior, how it is like and how did you know about this or discover that you are having it and at what age
F Jome: Being an Endo Warrior is hard. It means you have to keep fighting to live every day. This is because the body feels the full impact of the disease. You can’t be normal like others, your diet for instance has to be monitored and your physical activity is necessary even if in most cases one is slim. You have to be ready to fight to live every day. I choose to fight but it is not easy. Some days, I just want to stay in bed all day with my heating pad and wish it was all over.
I constantly consulted with a particular doctor for many years who got tired of me, he felt I was hypochondriac and passed me over to an OBGYN. The Specialist finally discovered I had endometriosis through a surgery called Laparoscopic surgery. It took my doctor 8 years before I was diagnosed. Then, I took it upon myself to do more research about the disease because most of the doctors are not very knowledgeable about it. I found a doctor that specializes in such and he performed the second round of Laparoscopic surgery, this is when they discovered I had stage 3 Endo.
I wish I knew sooner. Like I said earlier, it took me years of ER visits at different hospitals and consultations with different specialists to finally be diagnosed properly of the disease. The pain galvanizes me to go ahead with the fight as science in my opinion has failed women in this department; little resources are donated towards the cause of finding a cure. If we do not speak up about our pains physical or emotional, if we do not speak of how much we would like to be mothers but due to what we have it is extremely difficult for us to do that, how will we have people listening and ready to fund research and treatment of the ailments?
The Voice: Almost 90 percent of young ladies/girls in our society always have strong menstrual cramp during their monthly period. How will you compare the pain of the two and what’s different between the two?
F Jome: I wouldn’t wish it on anyone really. The pain is different, period pain can last you few days or less while Endometriosis can last you for week or more. But the pain varies due to body types. Diet also is keys to how much pain one suffers. The location of the disease is also a factor. Endo pain feels like the regular period pain but in others it could feel like a train going back and forth at full speed on the belly area, going to your back and sometimes to your legs. This is just the physical pain, the emotional trauma is added as society expects us to live our lives normally with this pain since they assume and think it’s a period problem.
The Voice: Any symptoms to watch out for to know if a girl is having it and what age does it normally start or occur
F Jome: The symptoms vary as some women don’t have any symptoms at all but the most commons ones are;
- Lower abdominal pain or pelvic pain – usually worse during period
- Excessive bleeding, Leg pain and Cramping before your period
- Period pain that prevents normal activities
- Pain during or after sex is common with endometriosis
- Pain with bowel movement or urination during period
- Fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, or blood in pee during your period
- Bloating, Nausea especially during menstrual period
- Difficulty getting pregnant
- Some women can suffer depression and other mental health problems due to pain
Endometriosis starts in your teenage years but most women like myself are not diagnosed until adulthood. It’s hard to tell because some women with endo may not have pain till later on and the ones that have may think that it’s the usual pelvic pain during period as they don’t know about the disease. Most women who with a family history of the disease or young girls that get their period early as young as 11 are typically at a high risk of developing the condition.
The Voice: Is it preventable or is there anything endo warrior should avoid to stay well
F Jome: The disease is not preventable and as it has been falsely claimed, it has nothing to do with what a woman’s anatomy has been exposed to. Women with the disease need to be mindful of certain kind of foods, especially those that contain gluten, dairy, flour, processed sugar, Red meat, white rice, caffeine etc. They should instead increase their intake of fibrous foods like vegetables and fruits, iron rich foods and food rich in essential fatty acids.
The Voice: In addition, can you describe the pain(s) endo warriors go through when it attacks them.
F Jome: The pain is hard, unbearable and intense. It is a chronic and consistent type of pain. The pain has a negative impact on the quality of life. We can’t do anything but stay home and hope for the pain to subside. Somedays the pain can be so bad that you feel like giving up the battle and hand it over to God. The pain can attack you anywhere and anytime, it’s like a freight train filled to capacity running over one’s belly then a million men with sledgehammers slamming the rib cage once the train passes over.
The Voice: For the benefit of people especially the young girls and ladies that would to participate in the Walk to Raise Awareness about Endometriosis scheduled for 20th March, 2021 in The Gambia. Can you expatiate a little bit about the event?
F Jome: We are very excited about this event as it’s the first of its kind and it’s something that will bring together friends and volunteers from the US, Nigeria, Senegal and other places. We are calling everybody to come out and walk with us to fight Endo. The event is happening on March 20th. Fighting the disease is a collective effort and we must achieve this by educating the general public about the disease. We understand the challenges and restrictions Covid-19 pandemic might pose, but our commitment to making women’s lives better drives us so we must push on, of cause within the safety protocols established by the Government of The Gambia. We are also expecting a significant government representation both from the executive down to the Mayoral level. We have committed support from the media fraternity as major radio, TV and online media platforms have agreed to support us. We call on everyone to come and walk with us and fight this disease. Together, we can fight endo. Together we can make a difference.
