A student who was born with most of her vagina missing claims that she was betrayed by the first man who she dared to be intimate with.
When Annabelle Astley was just 16 she was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome.
The congenital condition means that she has a shortened vagina, no cervix and no uterus.
This means that the young woman, now 19, will never have a period or carry her own children.
And, she had to experience “extremely painful” dilation to stretch out her vaginal canal.
Without the treatment she was unlikely to ever be sexually active with a man.
But, the theatre student did manage to overcome her fear and tell her former boyfriend about her condition and slept with him.
Unfortunately, she was “mortified” to find out that he had “told all 350 people” who lived in her accommodation about her syndrome.
After breaking up with him she decided to share her experience online in order to raise awareness.
Annabelle said: “He was actually so supportive and I came back and felt a bit like a laughing joke that he’d been running the halls being like ‘oh yeah, she’s got this and this’.
“He was the first person I had slept with and I’ve not been with anyone since.
“I hope things will be different with my next partner – hopefully I’ll have the courage to tell him.
“As bad as what he did is, I’m actually thankful for what he did for me.”
Annabelle claims the response online has been overwhelmingly positive.
She explained: “It’s made me a million times stronger as a person to the point I can talk so openly and freely about it.
“If he hadn’t had done that no one would know about it and I wouldn’t have shared it on TikTok – I’ve already had about 15 girls with the same condition message me – it’s amazing.
“Because I’d lost so much control about the situation and I wouldn’t leave my room for a couple of weeks during that time I was thinking ‘maybe I do need to start raising awareness about it’.
“I thought ‘you know what – it’s out now, I might as well start opening up about it’ and thought TikTok might be a good way to do that.”
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And, the young woman revealed some of the unusual questions she’s been asked.
She added: “I’ve had some really weird comments.
“People have asked ‘what’s a uterus?’
“I’ve had loads of ‘so are you a boy?’ and ‘does that mean you’re transgender then?’
“Hundreds of people who I don’t know write the most supportive comments and so many girls with the same condition have come forward who I’ve made friends with – it’s just amazing.”
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