Meet Our #WCW Angelica Young — ‘They Couldn’t Find My Left Fallopian Tube, Left Ovary, or My Colon’

Our first #WCW post goes out to Angelica Young, an Endometriosis advocate, the face of Miss Captivating 2016, and one of our newest DO YOU ENDO contributing writers.

In 2015, Young began experiencing pain in her right side that was so excruciating she could barely stand. After consulting her physician, she was asked to have an ultrasound only to find a cyst the size of a golf ball was clinging to her right ovary. Six weeks later, Young (who was still in severe pain) went to her OBGYN to see if there was anything she could do to manage it.

“He asked me if I knew what Endometriosis was,” Young said, referring to her OBGYN. “I said ‘no’ because I had never heard of it.”

After talking with her doctor (and reading an extensive amount on Endometriosis), Young consented to have laparoscopic surgery.

“I did have Endometriosis, but it was so advanced they couldn’t see much,” Young continued. “I had Stage IV, and they couldn’t find my left Fallopian tube or my left ovary. They also couldn’t find my colon.”

Just four weeks after her laparoscopy, she was prepped for a second surgery. Although she was in pain from being unable to heal properly, she hoped this next surgery would bring about some closure, but it only brought more complications.

“This was the surgery that made everything real.”

Young soon found out that her uterus and colon were fused together with scar tissue. Her doctor also had to remove her left Fallopian tube and her left ovary due to irreversible damage.

“My OB came into the room and asked who I wanted there… I only wanted my fiancé with me,” she said. “He gave us the news and I remember just crying. Crying because I just cut our chances in half of having children, and there was no guarantee I’d be able to conceive naturally.”

An HSG test revealed she had holes in her remaining right tube. Her doctors also found a five-centimeter endometrioma (a blood-filled cyst) that, if removed, could make it nearly impossible to naturally conceive a child. At that point, Young told her fiancé they still had time to cancel the wedding, if he wanted to.

“I told him he could find someone else to marry…” she said. “I wanted him to live the best life he could. But he chose to stay.”

Two months before their big day, however, Young underwent her third surgery in six months. Fortunately, she was able to recover in time for their wedding, but she was back in the hospital by January 2017. This would be her fourth and final surgery.

“This was the hardest to recover from,” Young said. “My body had been through so much already and I knew I needed to have it done. It was my last.”

Still, she lives with a daily struggle.

“The Endo has come back with a vengeance,” Young continued. “I live with a heating pad and blanket. My husband is my support… he’s actually the one that kept pushing me to ask more questions.”

In the midst of her struggle, Young was halfway through her reign as Miss Captivating, a national title that gave her a platform to educate the public about Endometriosis. Since then, she’s been an advocate for women to ask more questions about their periods.

Young and her husband are now working through their infertility challenges.

“We’ve done two rounds of Clomid with timed intercourse, and both pregnancy tests came out negative,” Young said.

Two IUI’s, unfortunately, yielded the same result. Next month she’ll try again, after a five-month break while being on Lupron (a drug she advises against using after her experience with it), and if it doesn’t work, they will be embarking on an IVF journey.

And yet, she still has nothing but positive words to say for those of us who are also spiraling down the Endo shoot.

“There are going to be plenty of days you’ll want to give up, but keep going,” she said. “You are an #EndoWarrior and you will learn how strong you truly are throughout this process.”

Want to know more about this fearless EndoBabe? Check out Young’s blog, Brown Biscuit Adventures, or follow her story on Instagram.