A woman was in pain for decades. A chance meeting helped her learn why.
Dawn Jemison started dealing with pelvic pain as a preteen. It took decades to learn why — and to find a solution.
September 5, 2026 / 8:00 AM EDT / CBS News
Dawn Jemison's pelvic pain started when she was 11 — and never really stopped.
The Fort Wayne, Indiana, native started experiencing pelvic pain in middle school. At first, it was dismissed as puberty. By her late teens, she was in pain multiple days each month. In her 20s, she was diagnosed with anemia and lupus. But nothing explained the "terrible, twisting, stabbing pains" that ranged from her ribcage to pelvis, or the swollen feeling in her legs.
Over the next two decades, Jemison, now 43, would see a range of doctors and undergo dozens of tests and exploratory procedures. Some doctors thought it might be endometriosis and recommended birth control, which didn't help. Two doctors even recommended she have a baby to "regulate (her) system," she said. Some thought it was all in her head, Jemison said, while others thought she was drug-seeking.
"As the years are going by, these pains are getting worse. It is not just a couple times a week, a couple times a month; it is almost every day, waking up because of pain, a stabbing pain, a lot of times, and just not having an explanation," Jemison said. "You're like, 'OK, I have to go to work, I have to get up and live my life, but I'm in so much pain right now.'"
In December 2024, Jemison asked her doctor for a hysterectomy. The procedure, where the entire reproductive system is removed, was a radical step. But it felt like the only option left.