A woman who was left in debilitating pain for 16 years due to a series of diagnostic errors was ready to give up on any chance of a cure until discovering a saviour in the United States who turned her life around.
Claudia Wright, 27, from Perth, went through countless treatments, medications and surgeries as doctors attempted to treat her for Crohn’s Disease – an ailment she never had.
The former public relations consultant’s nightmare began when she was a child – and she can barely remember a time when her body would allow her to perform the simplest of tasks without the help of another.
‘I went on school camp when I was 11 years old – the fist time I’d ever been away from my parents,’ Ms Wright told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I started getting diarrhoea and losing blood with bowel movements and rectally. I was also suffering from bloating, killer cramps and vomiting. But I was too afraid to tell anyone.’
Claudia Wright, 27, from Perth, went through countless treatments, medications and surgeries as doctors attempted to treat her for a disease she never had
The 27-year-old woman went through countless treatments, drugs and surgeries in an attempt to treat a disease she never had
Ms Wright underwent extensive testing from colonoscopies, endoscopies, blood tests and scans
Her symptoms were so severe she was even losing blood without being on the toilet seat.
Once she was back from camp, Ms Wright told her parents what she was going through and together they went to their local GP where she was referred to a gastroenterologist.
Over the next few months she underwent extensive testing – colonoscopies, endoscopies, blood tests and scans. She also started getting her periods.
‘After the testing, it came back that it was Crohn’s disease,’ Ms Wright told Daily Mail Australia.
Ms Wright lived with a chronic illness and suffered through immense pain as a result of continuously being incorrectly told she had Crohn’s disease
‘It all started when I was 11 at school camp and I started getting diarrhoea and losing blood with bowel movement and rectally,’ she told Daily Mail Australia
‘I was put on immune suppressants steroids, pain medication. I went through a number of medications to find the right one,’ she said
‘I was put on immune suppressants steroids, pain medication. I went through a number of medications to find the right one.
‘That kept going to the next few years, until I reached 15 years old.’
The severe migraines, shortness of breath, chest pains, and pain in her limbs, along with severe cramping and fatigue, plus the bowel symptoms didn’t stop.
‘I was in Year 10 then and I missed 70 per cent of school that year because I was in an out of hospitals,’ she said.
‘I saw a naturopath, neurologist, gastrologist and I did every imaginable scan from MRI and CT scans.
‘After two years of suffering with the pain so immensely, and they’re not finding out what’s wrong because for a lot of it the pain was bad in my head they thought it was swelling up the brain.’
At 16, Ms Wright sought help from a pain specialist, but again, it failed to provide the relief she was so desperate for.
‘I had a nerve simulator implanted into my buttocks and from there they had wires up my spine to my neck, it split off at the base of my skull,’ she said.
‘I was in year 10 then and I missed 70 per cent of school that year because I was in an out of hospitals,’ she said
‘I was put on immune suppressants steroids, pain medication. I went through a number of medications to find the right one’
At 16, Ms Wright (pictured recently) sought help from a pain specialist, but again, it failed to provide the relief she was so desperate for
At the age of 22, Ms Wright was only getting worse and rapidly losing weight.
From 2014 to 2017 she was in an out of hospital emergency with a colonoscopy performed every year which came clear each time.
Rather than delve deeper into her issue, Ms Wright was told ‘nothing is wrong’ and to ‘please come back another time’.
For the next eight months she began taking stronger steroids and stopped all other medication, and was told to only come back if the pain got worse.
From 2014 to 2017 she was in an out of hospital emergency with a colonoscopy performed every year which came clear each time
Rather than delve deeper into her issue, Ms Wright had been told ‘nothing is wrong’ and to ‘please come back another time’
Dr Ken Sinervo (left) performed an excision on Ms Wright (right) and now six-months post-operation she is feeling better than she has for nearly two decades
When she experienced ‘the most pain I have ever been in’ when she had sex, Ms Wright realised she had an issue with her reproductive parts and that her long-term illness probably had nothing to do with the gastro-intestinal system.
After extensive research and reaching out for help, a centre in Atlanta got back to Ms Wright and asked her to forward all her test results.
‘After 16 years I didn’t have any trust left in the health system,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Not only physically did I deteriorate but also mentally – going and begging for help because no one was listening to me and helping me.
‘It just took one singular man to call me and say ”I hear you, I believe you and I’m going to help you’ to change my life”.’
That man was Dr Ken Sinervo from the Endometriosis Care in Atlanta.
Ms Wright now has 19 surgical scars from the 16 years of damage done by all the testing and surgeries
‘Not only physically did I deteriorate but also mentally – going and begging for help because no one was listening to me and helping me,’ she said
When she picked up the phone, Ms Wright finally knew what was wrong – she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Endometriosis – a genetic disease which caused the tissue lining of the uterus to grow outside of the uterus.
Dr Ken Sinervo performed an excision on Ms Wright and now six-months post-operation she is feeling better than she had for nearly two decades.
‘If I didn’t go for the surgery, I don’t know where I’d be right now,’ she said.
She has 19 surgical scars from the 16 years of damage done by all the testing and surgeries.
‘I physically feel like a different partner… this is the best I’ve felt in ages,’ she said.
The family have started a GoFundMe page asking for the public to help them pay off the excess medical and travel bills.
‘I physically feel like a different partner…this is the best I’ve felt in ages,’ Ms Wright said