Community News
Endo-Warrior Destiny “Stacey” Savary educates the community about endometriosis
BY PAUL JUNOR
Many women suffer silently from endometriosis, which is often misdiagnosed, and its symptoms ignored. Many support groups have coordinated their efforts to empower women. Groups such as ENDOBLACK.ORG enable these women to be taken seriously. Tia Mowry, a popular African American actress has done a lot of work to publicize her struggles with endometriosis.
It is defined as, “an often painful disorder in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus, the endometrium grows outside your uterus. Endometriosis most commonly involves your ovaries, fallopian tubes and the tissue lining your pelvis.”
In Canada, Destiny “Stacey” Savary: community worker, health educator and entrepreneur has taken on the role of an endo-warrior. She is currently engaged in a public education campaign to inform women about this chronic disease. She has written her personal story in her best seller titled “The Perfect Storm; Navigating the Storms of Life.”
Tia Mowry documented her personal stories in an article for SELF-magazine on November 1st, 2018. Her passion, like Stacey, is to educate the black community about endometriosis. She states, “the diagnosis wasn’t the first time I realized something might be wrong. I’d been experiencing extreme pelvic pain for years and went to several doctors. Each one would brush me off. Those are just bad cramps, some get them more severely.”
Over the years, Tia had endured several surgeries and had a hard time conceiving. In fact, infertility is a very common complication of this chronic condition and may be a red flag.
She shared this experience with Stacey who had her first surgery on October 29th, 2017 and had to have another surgery as well. In a post on her Facebook Page (Tuesday, January 26th, 2021) she writes that after three years and two surgeries, “I am hoping I won’t need anymore.”
Tia talks openly about the feelings of isolation that she experienced although she had a strong support system. She states, “I thought that I was alone because no one I knew personally had dealt with this. And then, I realized, I’d never really seen someone American in the public eye talking about endometriosis, or their struggles with infertility. When you don’t know or see anyone else who looks like you talking about what you’re going through you feel alone and suffer in silence.”
Stacey has shared her stories on several platforms. She is open, transparent and vulnerable about the challenges and obstacles she faced while working full time in Christian ministry. She recounts how she did not receive medical help early and suffered in pain for years.
Dr.Oluuafunmiloa Bada, M.D, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Howard University tells SELF-magazine,“endometriosis has always been out there, but what is coming to light now is how there is some racial bias in health care, so there may be under diagnosis in women of colour. The symptoms present the same way, but the complaints that women of colour bring to a provider aren’t taken as seriously sometimes, and they aren’t properly diagnosed. Endometriosis has no colour”
Essence Magazine reported on February 28th, 2019 that endometriosis is a health problem that affects 11% of American women ages 15 to 44. Stacey relishes her role as an endo-warrior. She wants to help women to not be afraid to seek medical advice early so they can receive treatment before it is too late.
Her strong faith continues to sustain her.