health update following emergency surgery: ’14 new lesions

She was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on what was supposed to be a celebratory night recognising the legacy of her deceased father – Steve Irwin.

Bindi Irwin was 26. The much loved wildlife conservationist was in Las Vegas along for Steve Irwin Gala on the Saturday 10th May when severe abdominal pain became a medical emergency.

Bindi went to Las Vegas with the intention of going to the gala, a passion of hers that helps the Irwin family’s Wildlife Warriors mission. Although she was in blatant pain, she was ready to endure in pain.

Robert Irwin, aged 21, Bindi’s brother, had said that she was about to “tough it out” and come through to the event despite her condition.

She came to Las Vegas and she was willing to go to the gala, to put a brave face despite tremendous discomfort and agony,” Robert said to PEOPLE. “But the surgeon said, “No, your appendix is going”. That thing’s gotta come out.’ Health has to come first.”

What once was suspected to be a case of appendicitis turned out to be something worse. Doctors corroborated that Bindi’s appendix had ruptured and this needed instant surgery done.

However, in the process of a procedure surgeons discovered 14 new lesions as a result of endometriosis, a long-term disease; Bindi has struggled with for years. They also fixed a hernia at the same operation.

Later on, Bindi posted a passionate Instagram video to her fans that was recorded from her hospital bed. Though evidently in a drunken stupor and recuperating, her message was one of endurance and thanks.

She said, “I just got out of surgery about an hour ago”. “I had my appendix removed. I also had 14 new endometriosis lesions that had to be taken out, and they nicely sewed up my hernia too.

Robert who took over for Bindi at the gala, gave emotional remakes on behalf of Bindi. Terri Irwin, Bindi’s mother,

who is 60 years of age, also opted to stay with her daughter at the hospital instead of going to the event. “She’s just come out the other side of endometriosis and now the appendix goes”, said Robert. “Health is very important – it really is.”

Bindi’s husband, Chandler Powell, was not going to let her down posting a comment on her post as proof of his support: “Strongest person I know.” Robert also had his words of encouragement: “Stay strong Bindi! Love you!”

This is another page of Bindi’s lifelong fight with endometriosis – a crippling disorder during which tissue much like the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, which commonly causes constant pain and infertility.

She went public with her diagnosis in March 2023, after having had an operation that revealed 37 lesions and a chocolate cyst – an ovarian cyst filled with old blood. At the time she excited the immense release from being heard and taken seriously after a decade of unexplained symptoms.

“It was scary going in for surgery, but I knew that I couldn’t live the same way anymore”, she wrote. “My whole life was getting ripped apart due to the pain.”

In the A life of greatness podcast, she talked about how little people knew about the turmoil she was undergoing. “The only people, who ever knew that I was seriously ill…

my husband, my mom, and my brother. Many doctors would later misdiagnose her symptoms as IBS, hormonal issue or even tell her that “it was just being a woman.”

“The symptoms went on snowballing and it took me so many years to get help,” she said. “It’s a story many women and girls know all to well”.

Although her recent emergency surgery was untimed and so alarming, Bindi is optimistic and firm in her healing. Her candor does not cease to bring light onto an all too often misdiagnosed and discarded condition.

Her fans, followers, and other ladies who suffer from endometriosis look at her not only as a conservationist and TV personality – but as a fighting, empathetic woman in helping women’s health.

For now, Bindi is spending time healing one step at a time in the love of her family and the adulations of the supporters throughout the world.