‘Like getting stabbed’
Woman speaks out about ‘invisible’ condition to raise awareness
At 28, Denise Lockhorst has “never” had a normal menstrual cycle. After getting her first period at age 10 or 11, she was in “agony” for four years and had “very irregular and heavy” bleeding, but thought it was “normal”.
From August 2018 to February 2020, “I bled for a whole year and a half”, she says.
Lockhorst’s abnormal periods were a sign of endometriosis — a condition where tissue similar to the uterus lining is found outside the uterus.
The tissue can form nodules or plaques and can cause extreme pain during periods or ovulation, tiredness, abnormal menstrual bleeding, infertility and problems with the bladder or bowel.
Endometriosis affects an estimated 120,000 people in New Zealand — roughly one in 10 women.
Lockhorst shared story to raise awareness of the condition and encouraged people to “advocate” for themselves.
“If you have any kind of pain and heavy bleeding . . . and you literally have to miss school or miss work because of your pain . . . go get checked.
“The more we speak about it . . . the more, hopefully, young girls get diagnosed earlier or catch it before it gets to stage 4.”
Stage 4 is the most severe form of endometriosis and can be infiltrative and affect pelvic organs and ovaries, often with distortion of the anatomy and adhesions.
Lockhorst told the Rotorua Daily Post she “pushed through” the cramps and heavy bleeding because she thought it was normal.
“For the first year and a half of my pain, I actually just cried behind closed doors. Because it’s such an invisible disease . . . people look at you like you’re okay.”
Her doctor prescribed her a contraceptive pill.
In 2018, when living in Sydney, Lockhorst’s symptoms got worse.
She saw her GP after feeling a “sharp” pain, which she described as “like getting stabbed by the knife”.
Her GP referred her to a gynaecologist,
For the first year and a half of my pain, I actually just cried behind closed
doors.
Denise Lockhorst
who found a 5cm cyst on her right ovary and a 2.3cm cyst on her left ovary.
Her options were paying $10,000 to have surgery privately, waiting 12 months through the public health system, or returning to New Zealand.
In December 2019, she came home and in February 2020, had laparoscopic surgery at Rotorua Hospital where surgeons removed her cysts and diagnosed her with Stage 2 endometriosis.
“I thought my world was ending,” she said of the moment she found out.
“It affected me and I thought the worst. Infertility . . . as all young women [do], especially at the age of 22, 23.
“I just cried my heart out.”
The battle against an invasive species that has decimated kōura (freshwater crayfish) populations has taken centre stage in a centennial celebration.
Te Arawa whānau, marking 100 years of the iwi’s trust, have been learning about its Catfish Killas and kōura protectors.
While ensuring the environmental health of the rohe’s rotomoana is the trust’s priority, the man leading that mahi says it has also enabled the iwi to have “seats at decision-making tables”.
Standing at the Lake Rotoiti foreshore in Te Weta Bay on Saturday, Te Arawa Lakes Trust biosecurity and taiao (environment) restoration operations manager William Anaru told Local Democracy Reporting: “We’ve already lost so much when it comes to native species, our native taonga [treasure].”
Throughout March the trust celebrated the centennial by taking Te Arawa whānau out on the lake. Anaru was waiting for the last group to arrive.
The bay was an important location for the trust’s biosecurity work; nets lined jetty sides as part of the award-winning Catfish Killas programme.
It was established between the iwi and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in 2016 — the year the species was first found in Rotoiti.
Anaru said new pests continually damaged the taiao and taonga species.
“In this lake we have lost about 99 per cent of our kō ura [freshwater crayfish].”
While past generations fed whānau and manuhiri (visitors) with the native cray, Anaru said that ability had “been taken away”, and that was why biosecurity was important.
“It’s why we are fighting so hard to keep anything new from coming
into our lakes.”
The biggest impact the trust had over a century was enabling its people to be involved in decisions on lake management, he said.
The Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act 2006 was a Crown apology for Te Tiriti o Waitangi breaches and vested Te Arawa lakebeds to the trust. Before then, the trust was known as Te Arawa Māori Trust Board.
“We’ve got seats at decisionmaking tables.”
Trust chairman Geoff Rolleston said the century had been significant.
From world wars to pandemics, impacts were “devastating” to its population, the people and the whenua.
Development had a “real negative effect” on the rohe’s lakes and waterways, he said.
The purpose of the lake excursion was to give people a better idea of the “extent of the mahi our teams are performing”.
“And for myself, to get a far greater appreciation of the work being done on the ground.”
Rolleston said it was looking to the next 100 years.
“From today, we like to think we can inspire, we can show people what needs to be done to revitalise our waterways, our whenua, our waterbodies, our lakes.”
Rolleston took over from Te Arawa rangatira Taa [Sir] Toby Curtis, who died in 2022.
Curtis chaired the trust for 16 years and helped it fulfil its Treaty of Waitangi settlement mandate to support the recovery and wellbeing of the region’s lakes, as well as while the trust moved to take a wider role within the iwi in the last few years.
At his nehu, his son Piripi Curtis said he fought and struggled to “bring back our mana Māori motuhake [autonomy].”
Catfish Killas demonstrate mahi Biosecurity officer Keeley Grantham joined Anaru in demonstrating the work the team did. The Te Weta Bay nets were waiting to be inspected.
Grantham said usually some of the 2500 children from the 36 schools involved checked for the invasive species, or programme volunteers including some nearby residents.
She hoisted the nets from the lakebed, careful not to release any of its guests. Native kō ura and small fish swam and crawled with invaders. Catfish were the dominant catch.
Grantham said the whiskered fish were prolific breeders and can produce up to 6000 offspring in a season.
Two years after being discovered in Lake Rotoiti they were found in Lake Rotorua in 2018.
Since the Rotoiti population was discovered, more than 250,000 have been removed from its water.
Catfish prey on taonga species such as kōura, as evidenced during a dissection later in the afternoon when a cray tail was pulled from the belly of a catfish.
They are managed as both exclusion and progressive containment pests.
The Catfish Killas separate the introduced species from the overall catch and return the rest.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy
Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four
years.