Founder Story – Menopause Awareness Month

I was 29 when I went through menopause for the first time. Not because of age, not because of “the natural stage of life”, but because I had just finished chemo, radiotherapy and brachytherapy for cervical cancer. My treatment saved my life, but it also shut down my hormones almost overnight.

The symptoms hit fast and hard. The hot flushes were so severe they made me feel physically sick, like motion sickness from the inside out. I remember sitting at my desk after returning to work, feeling a wave rise from my legs, up my back, and over my head like a surge of heat I couldn’t escape. Even thinking about it now makes my stomach flip. That was my everyday reality for years.

There were symptoms I didn’t even realise were happening, too. I was losing bone density and needed scans and strong vitamin D to try to protect what was left. And as time went on, the long term effects of pelvic radiation disease began to unfold. I became chronically ill from the very treatments that cured my cancer.

Pelvic radiation disease brought acute kidney problems, three episodes of sepsis, nephrostomy tubes through my back to drain my kidneys, and even septic shock, one of the most frightening moments of my life. By 2024, at 38, my body had been through more medical trauma than most people experience in a lifetime.

Around this time, I noticed something else: my memory was slipping. I was getting confused in situations that used to feel easy. I couldn’t recall new information. If someone asked me a work question, I couldn’t answer straight away anymore. If too many people were talking, I’d panic and need everything to stop so I could reset. Stress made it worse, and it became harder and harder to function the way I used to.

Then came the huge surgery in July 2024, a total pelvic exenteration. It removed everything in my pelvic area. And afterwards, it was like I went through menopause again. I later learned that medically induced menopause can happen twice: the first time when treatment shuts your hormones down, and the second time when the very last remnants are removed. My symptoms intensified all over again.

I’m sharing this because someone out there might be experiencing something similar and wondering why their symptoms feel different, or “too much”, or “too early”. And I’m sharing it because menopause is not just an age thing. I wasn’t even 30.

Please never assume what someone might be going through.

In the workplace, trust matters. Understanding matters. Creating space for people to talk about what’s happening in their bodies matters. When employees feel safe, they will come to you, and you can support them with resources, adjustments, and compassion.

This is why menopause champions are so important. A dedicated, knowledgeable person to go to. Someone who understands that menopause isn’t one story, it’s thousands of different ones.

And this is mine.

#menopauseawarenessmonth2026 #menopauseatwork