I suffered through years of pain and finally went in for surgery to fix it. A mistake led to a 12-day coma and sepsis - and now I might never be able to have children

Ambar-Rose Powell went in for a routine endometriosis surgery hoping to remedy almost a decade of chronic pain - only for a surgeon's mistake to completely change the course of her life.

The 19-year-old fell into a coma for 12 days, developed sepsis , had three surgeries, had to learn how to walk again, and is now facing thousands of dollars in medical debt.

The surgical mistake also means Ambar-Rose might not be able to have children naturally - which has always been her life-long dream.

It all started when she struggled with debilitating menstrual cycles ever since she was 11.

'It slowly got worse and worse,' Ambar-Rose, from New South Wales , told FEMAIL. 'I started going to multiple hospitals to figure out what was wrong - but they only ever found ovarian cysts.'

She was in and out of hospitals for five months when she finally got an appointment with a gynaecologist who suggested surgery to diagnose endometriosis.

On 1 July 2024, surgeons removed diseased tissue from Ambar-Rose's uterus, both ovaries, her bowel, and liver.

'My surgeon told me they'd never seen so much endometriosis before,' she said. 'They went in and removed it - but accidentally nicked my bowel in the process.'

Ambar-Rose developed severe septicaemia as a result of the mistake as waste from her ruptured bowel spread into her bloodstream.

'I was on the toilet in the hospital screaming out in pain,' she recalled. 'I felt so weak and lightheaded, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't open my bowels.

'I suddenly felt relief but I still couldn't 'go'.

'This went on for three days before I passed out and doctors discovered something was wrong.'

Ambar-Rose was given higher doses of pain medication when she complained about her discomfort at first.

She was put into a coma for 12 days and three more surgeries were performed on her because of the septicaemia.

'When I woke up, they told me they didn't notice I had sepsis because I was so young. They tried to imply it was my fault, but it really wasn't.

'I remember feeling so confused because I had no idea so much time had passed. I thought it had only been one day, but then I looked down and saw a huge scar with staples in it, and a colostomy bag.

'I felt so grossed out and confused. It was a very scary time.'

Ambar-Rose was bed-bound for two and a half weeks and had to learn how to walk again afterward.

'A physiotherapist came in and I had to use an A-frame and a walker. I had no muscles in my legs, so I couldn't stand up or move them at all.

'I couldn't sit up by myself either because I had no core muscles. I struggled to pick up a pen because it was too heavy.'

She lost 16kg and went down from 64kg to 48kg during that time.

'I couldn't eat at all without throwing up stomach bile. I had drains in my ribs at the side of my stomach and there's a blood clot in my lungs - for which I'm still taking blood thinners.'

Ambar-Rose said she loved eating before she went into surgery - and had a healthy diet of three meals a day, fruits, and other snacks.

'Now I just have one little salad and hope I don't feel sick from it.'

The young woman said her partner and his mum were her 'rock' during the recovery process, and that her own mother flew down from Brisbane to visit her as well.

'I also had some cousins come and see me, I felt very loved by my family and friends.'

Ambar-Rose shared that some days she regrets having the surgery - but the pain she was in before was 'unimaginable'.

'I've had to call the ambulance a few times because of the pain,' she recalled.

Ambar-Rose described the pain as a 'stabbing sensation' where she felt like someone was plunging knives into her stomach, back, and legs.

'I'd get extremely bloated and couldn't move at all. I had to be put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.'

She tried to alleviate the pain with over-the-counter painkillers but nothing seemed to work.

Ambar-Rose's quality of life has dramatically decreased after the surgeries.

'I can't really do many things by myself,' she confessed. 'I can't make the bed, I can't hang the washing up, I can't do anything that might stretch my abdominal muscles.

'So there's no mopping or sweeping or vacuuming at home for me. I'm not allowed to lift anything that's heavier than 5kg.'

Ambar-Rose can no longer walk her dog either, because of its weight.

'Driving is also really difficult sometimes because I can get really bad pain out of nowhere - I have to pull over and wait for it to pass or try and deal with it.

'Stepping into the bath and walking up the stairs is impossible on bad days - I have to crawl up because it hurts my stomach and legs to take big steps.'

The young woman does not have a timeline for when her pain will subside, and every doctor she has visited simply told her to rest.

'I'm exhausted all the time,' she said. 'I've fainted several times because of the unbearable fatigue.'

Ambar-Rose also suffers through vomiting, nausea, and severe headaches.

She has an upcoming appointment with her doctor to discuss a potential colostomy reversal - after which she'll need a few more months to heal.

Ambar-Rose is a certified aged care worker but cannot get a job until she has a clean bill of health.