Help Kobi get Treatment & Recover from complex Endometriosis

Hi my name is Kobi (Kobi Essah Ayensuo) I am a black trans- poet musician playwright and creative of many hats based in London I am also an organiser part of LGBTQIA+ Rights Ghana Solidarity and an Editing Intern at Ink Sweat and Tears. And I am fundraising to get surgery for my complex Endometriosis which I have been suffering with since I was age 14 - so for 12 years and unfortunately my Endometriosis has worsened to the point where I have lost a lot of my mobility.

Currently I am not able to stand up for longer than 10 minutes at a time without triggering the shooting pain in my abdomen and intense fatigue. I use a walking stick and currently need a motorised wheelchair. I am also currently under investigation to find out whether I also have Crohn’s disease/Colitis. I have reached this point because of medical racism and years of being gaslit by doctors who told me there was nothing they could do and doctors who have ignored alarming test results.

 

For some quick context Endometriosis is a chronic illness where the womb lining abnormally grows in different areas of the body causing inflammation in severe pain.

 

 

After speaking to a consultant, he suspects that my Endometriosis is growing and inflaming my nerve tissue which is why my pain is so severe. It feels like I am constantly being shot by a lightning bolt / feels like there barbed wire by in the side of my abdomen. Every month during my menstrual cycle my flareups worsen, the endometriosis growth spreads and my pain becomes more and more excruciating. I am in a tight ball and my whole body feels like it is on fire and shooting pain is unbearable. Sometimes I just want to give up but I know I have fought so hard to be free from emotional abuse in the past from unstable housing and homelessness and now I just want to be healthy so I can pour into my art, my community and the revolution.

 

 

Behind-the-scenes and during the years I have had to call ambulances and I’m mainly housebound, if you see me out and about it’s because I am forking out the very limited savings I have to pay for Ubers to go hospital appointments. Or to go to friend’s birthdays or watch them perform or perform my sets at gigs. I am currently unable to access public transport. My mental health is being affected by this illness so much of my life is on hold I am not able to gig as much as I used to, perform at festivals or show up in the streets to protest as much as I used to. I want to imagine a future where I am not constantly in pain - I have never known this.

 

After my recent consultant appointment - I was told that getting an MRI scan just to see how bad my endometriosis growth is in my body will take six months due to the second MRI machine broken in that hospital.

 

It will be an additional year just to receive the laparoscopy surgery I need to the abnormal endometriosis growth in my body. Truth be told, I don’t have six months or a year in me because I’m afraid, and tired of this worsening. 

 

 

So I need your help:

 

This go fund me allow me to access private healthcare and pay for the 3 MRI scans that I need to assess how severe my Endometriosis growth is across my body. (I need 3MRI scans because of how complex and severe my consultant believes my Endometriosis is)

 

It will also allow me to book a surgery date to remove the abnormal endometriosis tissue from my body. It will cut my waiting list time from 1 year down to 3 months. After receiving quotes from the secretary of the consultant at the private hospital, I was told that my surgery would be approximately £20,000 because I would most likely need up to 3 surgeons to complete my surgery due to how complex my and severe Endometriosis is.

 

It will also allow me to purchase a motorised wheelchair. I also really need one wheelchair to get around to take the pressure off my body so that I can have a better quality of life. This go fund me will also help me housing costs after my surgery whilst I heal.

 

 

Cost breakdowns:

 

£20,000 roughly for Complex Endometriosis surgery

£3000 for MRI scans

£1000 for a motorised wheelchair

£1000 towards housing costs as I heal from surgery

 

 

Thank you so much for reading

 

Also thank you to everyone who has ever donated to my fundraiser when I was experiencing emotional abuse, homelessness/facing in stable housing.

 

With your help with this go fund me, I can heal from this illness and imagine a future without pain, and healthy and strong. There is so much I still want to do, music I want to share, community organising I want to do, art I want to make and life I want to live.

 

Thank you so much please donate and share far and wide

 

Big Love

Kobi