Eva

When I first met Vics we were flatmates in the first year of university. I didn’t find out about her diagnosis while we were living together, and it was only the following summer that I found out about it. Her mum had shared a Facebook post congratulating Vics on the growth of her charity which mentioned the condition. After a lot of googling, I was able to understand some of the condition, but it was only after Vics had the courage to tell me herself that I was able to fully understand what it meant to her and to others.

I had never heard of MRKH before finding out through Vics and was shocked that it hadn’t been talked about more as it affects 1 in 5000 people. I think this is what upset me the most, that young people were having to deal with a life changing diagnosis when there was very little awareness about the condition itself. This is why I think that the work Stars is doing is so essential because it is bringing more awareness about the condition and how people can battle through it with the love and support from others.

After Vics disclosed her diagnosis, it took me a while to fully understand what it meant for her. I wasn’t able to differentiate between what I’d found out on the internet and what Vics was saying - I think it took me a while to be able to understand how much it changed from person to person and how the effect of the diagnosis can be so varied depending on the person. This meant that after she told me I was always very wary of slipping up and I was worried for a while that I would somehow distance myself from such an important part of her life.

This (very luckily) didn’t happen and our friendship became much stronger. I have hopefully been able to try and support her on tougher days, and in return she has always been there for me. She also had the patience to help me understand how to talk about the subject without causing offence and, although I am still learning, this has meant that we can be there for each other. It has also led to me joining MRKH Stars. Around October, Vics offered for me to join the editing team and I was very excited to be more involved with an organisation that is doing such important work. I have been helping to edit the writers’ work since then and have enjoyed every part of it!