Medically Gaslit for 13 Years - Plus the Woman Told She Had Six Months to Live Who Just Ran a Half Marathon

What the Health

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Wednesday, 29 April 2026 - 55 minutes

This week on What the Health?! with Claira Hermet, we have two guests and two stories that will make you angry, move you to tears and leave you feeling genuinely inspired.First, Amy Peckham-Driver joins Claira to talk about an infuriating and heart-breaking example of medical dismissal. At just 14 years old, Amy was passing out from period pain so severe she could barely function. She asked her doctor if it could be endometriosis. She was told she was too young and given the pill. For the next 13 years, she was told it was anxiety. It was IBS. It was in her head. It wasn't. When she was finally diagnosed at 27, after paying privately for surgery because NHS waiting lists had become impossible, her surgeon told her her pelvis looked like a bomb had gone off inside. By then, the damage to her fertility was already done. Amy talks candidly about being medically gaslit, what it feels like to be told your very real pain isn't real, the moment she was rejected for IVF because of damage that an earlier diagnosis could have prevented, and why she's now on a mission to make sure other women don't spend over a decade fighting to be believed.Then Claira is joined by Holly Dyson, a woman who was told by doctors that she had just six months to live due to her alcoholism. Holly opens up about what daily life looked like at the depths of her alcohol addiction, why hitting rock bottom didn't immediately lead to change, and what finally pushed her toward recovery. Nearly three years sober, Holly has completely rebuilt her life and her body and has just crossed the finish line of the London Landmarks Half Marathon in 2 hours 49 minutes, raising awareness for Alcohol Change UK. She also challenges the stereotype of what an alcoholic looks like, explains why that stereotype is actively dangerous, and shares what she wishes someone had told her when she was at her lowest.

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