Woman who discovered she was intersex in her forties reveals she ‘always sensed she had a secret’ because of mysterious operation as a child – but her parents NEVER told her
- Sara Gillingham, from Surrey, discovered she was intersex after stumbling across old medical letters when she was 43
- Underwent a stream of surgeries as a child but was never told what they were for
- Discovered her mother had been prescribed progestin to avoid a miscarriage, a drug linked to cases of babies being born with biological variations to their sexual organs
A woman who discovered she was intersex after stumbling across old medical letters when she was 43 has revealed she ‘always felt different’, as she battles for awareness around the topic.
Sara Gillingham, from Surrey, underwent a reversible, mainly cosmetic, surgery at the age of one at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, which was to be the first of a series of surgeries she underwent – with the reasons behind them withheld from her.
Remembering how she had ‘always been a tomboy’, she recalled how she always sensed she held a secret and ‘didn’t fit in’ – but couldn’t understand why.
She later discovered her mother had been prescribed progestin to avoid a miscarriage, a drug linked to cases of babies being born with biological variations to their sexual organs – meaning they do not conform to traditional male or female categories.
Sara Gillingham, from Surrey, discovered she was intersex after stumbling across old medical letters when she was 43 has revealed she ‘always felt different’ and was a tomboy as a child
Speaking to the BBC, Sara said: ‘My earliest memory was that I always felt I was somehow different, I was very much a tomboy, I never quite fitted in but I didn’t know why.’
Sara recalled undergoing mysterious operations in front of a room full of medical students, but was always told to leave the room when the doctors were speaking to her parents.
She recalled: ‘It was quite painful the things they were doing to me so I knew which parts of my body they were operating on.’
Telling her story to the Church Times last year, she revealed how the secrecy around her unique condition led her to be bullied throughout her childhood years.
Sara, seen with Stephen Fry who has praised her efforts to raise awareness, recalled how she had ‘always been a tomboy’, she recalled how she always sensed she held a secret and ‘didn’t fit in’ – but couldn’t understand why
She said: ‘I had little resilience and was traumatised, as the secrecy that surrounded me led me to believe I was something to be ashamed of.’
After finally discovering the nature of her operations when she hit her forties, she returned to Sheffield Children’s Hospital to look for further answers, but was told her medical records had been destroyed.
Sara recalled: ‘It was not until I was in my forties that I recovered my medical records and found out the truth. It was liberating, as it explained all that had happened to me, and helped me lift the secrecy that was so stigmatising.’
However Sara has continued to experience discrimination, recalling how she was called ‘possessed’, in church.
She continued to raise awareness around the intersex community, and recently won the support of Stephen Fry, who praised her for sharing her story.
She later discovered her mother had been prescribed progestin to avoid a miscarriage, a drug linked to cases of babies being born with biological variations to their sexual organs – meaning they do not conform to traditional male or female categories
Sara felt liberated after discovering the truth but has continued to experience discrimination, recalling how she was called ‘possessed’, in church