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Endometriosis and adenomyosis are serious, chronic diseases that cause significant pain and disability.They are often misunderstood, underdiagnosed, and drastically underfunded, despite affecting millions of people worldwide.
This rally is about changing that.
We are coming together to demand better research, better education, and better care grounded in modern science and lived experience. We are amplifying voices that have been ignored and pushing for a future where no one is told their pain is normal, imagined, or acceptable.
For thousands of years, the pain caused by these diseases has been wrongly normalized. Generations have been taught that severe pain is “just part of being a woman.” This message has been reinforced in homes, in schools, and throughout medical training. Thus leading to stigma, silence, delayed care, and harmful treatment standards.
Outdated medical theories have shaped decades of ineffective and damaging care and continue to influence policy and access today. Women’s health as a whole has long been minimized, but conditions labeled as “period” or “menstrual” issues have been dismissed even further. Medical systems readily acknowledge and respond to fertility concerns associated with erectile dysfunction, yet fertility loss caused by endometriosis and adenomyosis is often treated as secondary or acceptable collateral damage. This one imbalance example reflects a broader failure to value reproductive health equally.
Endometriosis and adenomyosis sit at the center of this failure.
Progress has been made, but institutional inertia still blocks research funding, accurate education, and timely access to proper care.
Endometriosis is not a “painful period.”
It is not caused by backflow menstruation, and it is not just tissue that bleeds and sheds each month. Endometriosis lesions are biologically different from normal uterine lining. They can create their own estrogen, resist progesterone, trigger ongoing inflammation, and grow new nerves. These lesions do not shed like a period. This is why endometriosis can cause severe, long-term pain and affect areas far beyond the uterus.
Adenomyosis is a related but distinct disease. It happens when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows into the muscle wall of the uterus. This tissue behaves abnormally and is linked to inflammation, hormone resistance, heavy bleeding, painful cramping, and uterine swelling. Adenomyosis appears to involve local hormone and immune changes inside the uterus, but it does not behave the same way as endometriosis outside the uterus.
Although these diseases may involve tissue that looks similar under a microscope, normal uterine lining behaves very differently than endometriosis or adenomyosis tissue. This difference helps explain why pain, bleeding, and treatment response vary so widely and why these conditions cannot be treated as “just bad periods.” While research is still evolving, adenomyosis is not simply “the same disease in a different place.”
Although endometriosis and adenomyosis can share some tissue features and symptoms, they are not interchangeable.
Even routine pathology testing can miss disease, because lesions do not always show classic features unless deeper or specialized testing is done. This contributes to long diagnostic delays and patients being told “nothing was found” when disease is still present.
For both conditions, symptom management options exist, including medications and supportive therapies. Surgery may help some individuals, especially when paired with proper diagnosis and specialist care, but results vary from person to person. There is currently no cure for endometriosis, and while hysterectomy can cure adenomyosis in severe cases, it does not treat endometriosis.
You should not have to have cancer, ALS, or broken bones to matter.
Co-Host Savannah Kirksey shares:
“I, like so many others, will never have kids because of this disease. I’ve had five miscarriages and two failed IVF rounds, and the only thing that continues is the suffering. I’ve undergone multiple surgeries, and the pain is still here. I’ve had enough.”
Co-Host Chelsea BreeAnn Hardesty adds:
“As a teenager, I was placed in a psychiatric hospital because my pain was labeled as hysteria and ‘normal women’s pain.’ As my health declined, I became nonfunctional. Losing jobs and dropping out of college.
Pregnancy was high-risk and life-threatening. After giving birth, continued fighting for answers which finally led to the discovery of endometriosis and adenomyosis. A second pregnancy left me anemic and on bed rest, followed by a hysterectomy just four months postpartum due to unbearable bleeding and pain.
Years of delayed care led to bowel endometriosis, repeated surgeries, severe rectal bleeding, and lasting health consequences. I am now six months into recovery from my third endometriosis-related surgery and eighth major surgery since 2018.”
These stories are not rare. They are the result of systems that normalize suffering, delay diagnosis, and restrict access to proper care. They are why this rally exists.
Confirmed Speakers:
Chelsea BreeAnn Hardesty - Research Assistant and Colorado Representative with EndoMarch; Congressional Outreach and Patient Advocacy Delegate with the American End of Endo Project (AEEP); Founder of Getting the Better of Endometriosis; CEO of SATIREV Projects
Amanda Bavender - Colorado lived experience speaker
Call for Additional Speakers!
We are currently seeking a few additional speakers.
If interested, please email [email protected]
*Advocacy Workshop Opportunity*
We want attendees to know about an Endometriosis Advocacy Workshop on February 24 with American End of Endo Project.
Use code collabAEEP to receive 20% off your ticket.
https://givebutter.com/qbLPdz
The workshop provides education and practical advocacy tools to help participants feel confident attending rallies, speaking publicly, with public officials and raising overall awareness.
We are all in this together.
*Please Note* This rally is dedicated specifically to endometriosis and adenomyosis awareness, research, and patient advocacy. To keep the focus clear and accessible for all attendees, please refrain from bringing signs, chants, or messaging related to ICE or other unrelated causes. We recognize that many systems and policies can impact healthcare access, including immigration-related issues. However, this event is intentionally focused on endometriosis and adenomyosis so that the message remains unified and effective.
Thank you for helping protect the purpose of this space and time.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Colorado State Capitol, Denver, Colorado, United States
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
