My name is Lauren and I have raised money to help raise awareness for the Pelvic Partnership.   

While pregnant with pelvic girdle pain (PGP) there was little to no help from the NHS and any advice I did get was largely wrong. The lack of knowledge and understanding regarding this often dismissed and underestimated condition led to a very poorly managed labour that ultimately left me unable to walk.

I felt I was alone, I was in chronic pain and confined to a wheelchair.

I had very little use of my left leg and didn’t know what was wrong. I couldn’t look after myself, my baby, or my horses. I got passed between doctors, physios and pain clinics with no one willing to help find out what was wrong. Their solution was just to put me on more and more drugs to try and mask the pain. As a result and on top of the chronic pain, my mental health was at rock bottom.

8 months postpartum I found the Pelvic Partnership and discovered I wasn’t alone.

Their advice and support were invaluable and I was so relieved to find help and people who really got it. Sadly so many women are affected by this horrid condition, though in most cases the symptoms ease and disappear after birth, in other cases, they persist, or as in my case, they get worse.

The NHS largely fails to help or provide correct advice. The Pelvic Partnership is working hard to raise awareness and change the advice given & treatments offered.

I’m pleased to say that 3.5 years on and thanks to the right advice, intense specialist physio/osteopath treatment and the right cocktail of pain medication, I’m able to do everyday things again. I still struggle with pain and activity-related flareups but I’m so much better.

In April 2024, Lauren raised over £1500 for the Pelvic Partnership by taking on a 9 mile horse ride, no easy feat after recovering from PGP. Here more about her challenge here.

Lauren has also featured on the podcast, Let’s Talk About Pelvic Girdle Pain, co-hosted by one of our Trustees, Angeline O’Connor.