Love Island’s Erin Barnett opens up about years-long battle to get a hysterectomy

Erin Barnett has opened up about her years-long battle to get a hysterectomy.

The former Love Island Australia and I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! contestant finally underwent the surgery in June, having suffered by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and severe endometriosis since she was 14.

The now-28-year-old was diagnosed with both conditions when doctors removed a three-liter cyst from one of her ovaries – which caused her stomach to become so hardened and protruding that her mother and doctor thought she must be pregnant

“I was cut from hip to hip, like a Caesarean,” Barnett recalled in the latest episode of Mamamia’s podcast, No Filter.

“And they said they had to drain it and it was about three kilos, almost a few litres of fluid, before they even got anything out.”

Endometriosis is a chronic condition that causes tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (endometrium) to grow outside of the organ. The tissue, which has been found on every major organ of the body, often spreads to the bowel and fallopian tubes, causing extreme pain, heavy bleeding, and in many cases, infertility. There is no known cure.

PCOS, meanwhile, is caused by an imbalance of reproductive hormones that creates problems in the ovaries, potentially leading to cysts or infertility.

While for some women, ovarian cysts will go away without treatment, Barnett’s would not resolve themselves – instead rupturing painfully, a sensation she likened to being “stabbed or someone’s pouring boiling hot water inside your uterus”.

“It’s excruciating. And it comes on so quickly. Like, you could be making dinner, laying in bed, and you don’t even know what’s triggered it. But when it happens, it’s like you can pass out from the pain and I’ve been almost at the brink of passing out.”

Her first surgery led to what she describes as a “snowball effect” of cyst growths and subsequent operations – totaling 17, including four in 2019 alone. Barnett estimates she’s spent over $30,000 on the procedures.

By the time she was 23, Barnett just wanted it “all out” – and started exploring the possibility of undergoing a total hysterectomy, which includes the removal of the cervix.

She was confident that any surgeon would assess her history with PCOS and endometriosis and agree to do the procedure. Instead, she was turned away by multiple gynaecologists, told she was too young for them to go ahead with the operation, asked to consider her future as a mother, or to think about what her boyfriend (if she had one) would think of her undergoing surgery.

“I was like, ‘I don’t give a sh*t how he feels’. One doctor said to me, ‘You might go to a baby shower one day and get super clucky and you’ll be thanking me that I didn’t take your uterus out’,” Barnett said.

“And I’m like, Who the f**k says that? No, I don’t get clucky at all … When people say, ‘Oh, my ovaries are hurting’ when they see a cute baby, I’m like, ‘My ovaries are hurting 24/7’.”

Barnett was finally approved for the surgery earlier this year – and described the relief of having the procedure at last as “winning the lotto”.

“I’ve wanted this for years & im (sic) so overwhelmed with emotions now it’s happened. I’m so glad I never gave up advocating for myself and my body,” she shared on Instagram at the time.

“And please remember, we are all amazing with or without kids. Having children does not define you. Do whatever makes you happy and healthy.”

Asked in a Q&A on her Stories how she was “coping after having a hysterectomy and not being able to have a kid naturally”, Barnett said she’s known since she was a teenager that conceiving a baby wouldn’t be easy.

“Therefore I came to accept the fact that in this lifetime I won’t be a mother. It’s obvious that this is the path I was given and I don’t see the need to push for something that is clearly not meant for me.”