Yasemin Sabuncu: The Illest
Nobody knows your body more than you. But what do you do when you feel like something’s not quite right but nobody believes you?
It wasn’t until 2016 that writer and comedian Yasemin Sabuncu was first diagnosed with endometriosis. Following the discovery of dermoid cysts on her ovaries, doctors instructed her to get them removed and that was when she was really informed of her chronic illness. Yasemin believes if it weren’t for this surgery, she would have never found out the truth about her health.
Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other parts of the body. Despite the lack of social awareness surrounding this disease, more than 830,000 Australian women suffer from endometriosis at some point in their life. With so many people living with endometriosis, one has to wonder: why don’t we know more about it?
Like many people across the world, Yasemin’s symptoms of endometriosis were often dismissed as merely period pains or confused for other illnesses. The negative stigma around menstrual cycles continues to threaten many people’s health.
Even Yasemin started dismissing her pain as her chronic fatigue or irritable bowel syndrome.
‘Doctors were often gaslighting me. They told me that maybe I was too sensitive or in some cases because I was “ethnic,” I may be sensationalising my symptoms,’ she told KOS Magazine.
‘I’ve had weird pains since I was a teenager but they put it down to growing pains and normalised my horrendous pain as something to just get on as I was being too sensitive.
In some ways, it was a relief to have answers as to why I was feeling what I was and there was physical evidence that I wasn’t making things up.’
Illustration by Amelia Asciutto
When she finally received a diagnosis that had been haunting her for most of her menstrual history, Yasemin was able to obtain appropriate medical attention. Through the help of integrative care from a naturopath, doctors, specialists, and physios, she was able to adapt to a routine that allowed her to live a functional life. She makes it a daily mission to help people understand that her chronic illness does not prevent her from living a full life.
‘I think society needs to step up and face reality in the way illness affects us as a whole and what it says about humanity with the way we treat people with illness or disability. People discriminate and make assumptions about illness but I want to break stereotypes and subvert the dialogue about such things. I want to create avenues for change, dialogue and awareness.’
Openly speaking about her chronic illnesses wasn’t always so easy for Yasemin. Participating in Midsumma Festival’s Pathway programs helped her gain confidence as she surrounded herself with fellow chronically ill or disabled artists.
‘It’s funny because most chronically ill or disabled people are the biggest badasses you are likely to meet. Just give us a chance, support us, and let us show you what we can do.’
Following her newfound confidence, Yasemin successfully produced a one-woman show titled The Illest that celebrated the ups and downs of life with chronic illness through the use of comedy. Her show was a reminder that despite her health challenges and the social implications that have come with it, she refuses to let it hinder her quality of life.
‘It took a lot for me to get on stage and say such personal things about my life for fear of persecution or being seen as less than. It’s interesting because so many friends even told me after, ‘I had no idea your condition was so bad back then.’ But that’s the thing with illness, it can be solitary and it can make people feel so alone and afraid of sharing their truth.’
‘I look back and all the growing pains doctors said I had as a teenager was actually endo(metriosis). It’s frustrating that there was so much time lost when I was younger.
The only way to get a diagnosis was through laparoscopic surgery and that is a huge thing for people to undergo both financially and physically. I didn’t have painful sex so they wrongly assumed I didn’t have endo.’
Yasemin adapted her show for Midsumma Festival with its reworked title ‘Sick Bitch’. She says the show’s name is not only a cheeky play on words but also a reflection of the increased confidence she’s gained from the support from her first show.
‘It was quite an initiation on all levels, a total destruction, and reconstruction of what it meant to be me, to be alive and what was important to me.’
‘I really had to let go of time frames, outcomes, and learn to surrender, accept, and love parts of myself that were hard to be with. Unfortunately, a lot of the hard lessons were actually external to me and caused by what I was born into.’
In bringing awareness to chronic illnesses, Yasemin hopes that society makes those changes that will allow people of off social and economic backgrounds to get appropriate medical attention.
‘It was really sad to see how discarded the most vulnerable are. I fell through the gaps and had to fight tooth and nail to be taken seriously and even get a diagnosis. It was such a full-time job just trying to survive and exist with these conditions. All people deserve a safe, nurturing, and caring existence. Not just the powerful.’
WORDS: ACHOL AROK
PHOTOGRAPHY: YASEMIN SABUNCU
ILLUSTRATION: AMELIA ASCIUTTO
PHOTOGRAPHY: YASEMIN SABUNCU
ILLUSTRATION: AMELIA ASCIUTTO
