A woman said a common condition many people don't know they have "nearly killed" her.
Joanne Sheridan, 45, found herself on life support after emergency surgery that led to her being diagnosed with endometriosis. The 'benign' and incurable condition affects roughly one in ten people assigned female at birth. It involves tissue similar to the lining of the womb growing elsewhere in the body, causing chronic pain and complications like fertility problems, adhesions and ovarian cysts, according to the NHS.
The "stabbing, shooting" abdominal pains started when Joanne was 18, initially occurring mostly around her periods before growing more permanent and "excruciating" as she got older. Some days, the Walton woman would crawl to the bathroom, but scans and tests revealed nothing on her multiple trips to hospital in her late teens and 20s.
