A beauty queen with a rare disorder is using her profile to raise awareness of hidden health conditions. Jennifer Carless, 18, made headlines last year when she became the youngest ever finalist at the Miss England competition.
But her life was turned upside down earlier this year when she woke up one morning and realised that her bladder could no longer function. The inspiring young woman, from the East Yorkshire village of Gilberdyke, was rushed to hospital where a litre of urine was drained from her bladder with a catheter.
Doctors were unable to cure her condition and she needs to permanently wear a urethral catheter bag on her leg. But Jennifer - known as 'Jen' - is determined to not let it define her and is using her platform to encourage other people with hidden health problems to be open and honest about their conditions.
Medics think Jennifer may have Fowler's Syndrome - a rare disorder that typically affects women between their 20s and 30s caused by an abnormality in the urethral sphincter. She said she had never heard of the condition before being affected by it and hopes to use her profile to raise awareness of and destigmatise it and other hidden illnesses.
She told Hull Live: "There are many women in the same situation as me out there and there is no cure for it at the moment. I have been with a catheter since February and have had numerous surgeries since then then too.
"I was always embarrassed of it because of the stigma around it, so I decided to use my platform to start a campaign called 'Women's Talk' where I have been having chats with women that go through conditions such as endometriosis and postnatal depression to get the conversation started about subjects that aren't talked about often but need to be spoken on more. It is to empower women and help them accept that it is a part of them, so if you have an illness, you shouldn't be embarrassed about it, you should embrace it, it is a part of you."
Jennifer, who is aiming to win Miss Yorkshire and go on to claim the Miss England title this year, says pageantry has come a long way since the days of bikini rounds and today aims to empower young women her age with humanitarian work and people skills. With her new campaign, she said the pageant has been a good chance for her to share her work with an audience.
She added: "The opportunity that I had been given with Miss Yorkshire and Miss England is a great platform, especially because the young women that are entering are at the same age as what Fowler's Syndrome tend to affect. So I thought it was a great opportunity to use that captive audience to go 'Right we can raise awareness here, and we can also raise awareness about other very stigmatised issues as well'."
The teen is currently waiting for urgent investigations and imminent operations in the next few weeks and is to be placed on a waiting list which could take up to three years before she can have surgery to hopefully help her bladder work again. Research for treatment for this condition is severely underfunded and so there are not many treatment options available at this time.
The surgery would cost in excess of £20,000, so she is currently fundraising to help towards medical treatment and operations to help her on her bladder journey. Contributions can be made on her JustGiving page.
On her page, she said: "There is very little knowledge around my present condition and research is desperately needed to help others, it is so undignified, but I am determined this is not going to define my life, in fact I refuse to let it. Not only that, I want to open awareness about what I am going through, so to help others going through this very rare and debilitating condition that affects so many young woman, suffering in silence."
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