Why Dragons’ Den star Peter’s girl was told she needed a hysterectomy at 29
THE daughter of Dragons’ Den tycoon Peter Jones has told how a crippling condition suffered by millions of women has almost destroyed her dreams of being a mother — at the age of just 29.
Annabelle Jones, who is single, was diagnosed two years ago with endometriosis, where tissue that would normally form the lining of the womb starts to grow in other parts of the body.
Growths can appear in the ovaries, bowel, bladder — even occasionally the spine, lungs or brain.
Since it behaves just like womb tissue, swelling and bleeding every month during a woman’s period, it triggers inflammation, extreme pain and internal scarring. And because it is often dismissed by doctors as merely heavy periods, many women go undiagnosed for years. Endometriosis Ireland says between two and 10 per cent of women in Ireland are affected. In Annabelle’s case, it took ten years to be diagnosed.
For some, the pain is so bad that it affects their education, career, sex life and mental health — with some surveys showing that up to half those with the condition have experienced suicidal thoughts.
The precise cause is unknown but it is thought to be due to a number of factors, including family history or a malfunctioning immune system.
Many women with endometriosis can conceive, such as Love Island star Molly Mae Hague, who is currently expecting a baby with her partner Tommy Fury.
But Annabelle’s case is severe, and complicated by the fact she also suffers with polycystic ovary syndrome, where problems with the ovaries trigger a hormone imbalance in the body and lead to irregular periods.
Now, just five months from her 30th birthday, she has been advised her best option is a full hysterectomy — a major operation to remove all her reproductive organs, including her ovaries.
While it could end her suffering, it would also leave her unable to have children biologically.
‘It has broken my heart,’ says Annabelle, the eldest of Peter Jones’s five children. ‘It took ten years to be properly diagnosed with endometriosis, when I was 27. Before that I was constantly told I just had bad periods. There were endless doctors’ appointments and countless scans, and I was prescribed a range of different contraceptive pills.’
A referral to a gynaecologist failed to reach an accurate diagnosis and it took four more years and appointments with three different consultants before her problem was discovered, in August 2020.
Annabelle, who works in a nursing home, says: ‘It is crazy what we have to go through to get a diagnosis. I had told numerous doctors and nurses that I had the symptoms, but was ignored. Is lying on the floor screaming and crying in pain, being sick and fainting not bad enough? My endometriosis could have been more controlled if I had been diagnosed sooner.’
Two rounds of keyhole surgery to remove the build-up of cells caused by the endometriosis have not bought her time, as expected, and have not resolved the problem. After a brutally honest conversation with her consultant, it was agreed that a hysterectomy was the only other option.
Most women having this surgery are in their forties or fifties and now Annabelle is in a race against time to try to conceive and give birth before having her reproductive organs removed.
She plans to postpone the operation for up to three years if possible and paid a clinic last month to extract 32 of her eggs.
She is waiting to hear how many are viable for freezing, but she hopes those that are will give her the option to conceive using a sperm donor in the event she does not meet a willing partner in the meantime. Egg freezing and storage costs around €3,000 in Ireland, and egg thawing and frozen embryo transfer around €2,500.
But some research suggests fewer than one in five women who use their frozen eggs to try to conceive are successful.
Annabelle believes her wish to be a parent makes it a gamble worth taking. ‘I really cannot process it all, especially when those around me are announcing pregnancies, or are getting married, which normally means babies will be thought about soon.’
Annabelle believes that much will depend on whether she can continue to tolerate the period pain, which drastically limits her social life and threatens to jeopardise her ability to go about her everyday life. ‘I don’t want to have another three years of my periods the way they are,’ Annabelle says. ‘But time is running out.’