<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Joanna Giannouli has spoken openly\u00A0about what life is like when you&amp;#039;re a woman born without a vagina, cervix or a womb, in an intimate\u00A0interview with the\u00A0BBC. 27-year-old Joanna suffers from\u00A0Rokitansky syndrome - a condition which affects around 1 in 5,000 women. Although women with\u00A0Rokitansky syndrome do have\u00A0ovaries, breasts\u00A0and external genitalia\u00A0(a vulva), neither the\u00A0upper vagina, all or part of the\u00A0womb, and the cervix develop.\u00A0 For Joanna, as\u00A0with most women suffering from Rokitansky syndrome, she\u00A0discovered her condition at the age of 14, because she still hadn&amp;#039;t had a period. The male doctor she and her mother saw refused to examine her until she was 16, due to the intimate nature of the issue (though we&amp;#039;re not quite sure why a female doctor was not made available in the interim).  At 16, medical investigations\u00A0revealed that Joanna\u00A0didn&amp;#039;t have a vaginal tunnel, and\u00A0doctors had to construct\u00A0one in order for her to have sex in future. Although the procedure was what Joanna describes as &amp;quot;revolutionary&amp;quot; in her native Athens, the operation went well. But Joanna&amp;#039;s newly constructed vagina was narrow and small, and therefore gave\u00A0her a lot of discomfort. &amp;quot;It caused me a lot of pain while having sex,\u00A0and I had to expand the perineum by doing vaginal exercises,&amp;quot; she told the\u00A0BBC.\u00A0 While things improved physically from there on in, &amp;quot;I was not OK emotionally,&amp;quot; Joanna recalled. After living happily with her fianc\u00E9 in Athens at the age of 21, Joanna finally felt comfortable enough to reveal her condition to him; but he did not take it well. Her partner broke off the engagement, and Joanna was left feeling like the stigma surrounding her rare medical disorder might never go away. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a burden, like something that you cannot get rid of it,&amp;quot; she told the\u00A0BBC.\u00A0&amp;quot;I had partners who emotionally abused me about this condition. I couldn&amp;#039;t have a stable relationship for many years because of that. It is a haunting and unbearable situation. It steals your happiness, your mentality, your chances of having a good and stable relationship. It leaves you with a huge void that cannot be filled, it fills you with anger, guilt, and shame.&amp;quot; Joanna went on to explain how\u00A0Rokitansky syndrome left her feeling worthless for quite some time; &amp;quot;damaged goods,&amp;quot; as she puts it. &amp;quot;Not worthy of being loved. I was a lost soul for many years. It can destroy your life. It puts you in a really hard position. I battled depression, anxiety, panic attacks, you name it.&amp;quot;  But things began to look up for Joanna when she started to take comfort in her religion. And for the past five years she has enjoyed &amp;quot;a stable and loving relationship&amp;quot;.\u00A0 Joanna&amp;#039;s new partner was aware of her condition right\u00A0from the start,\u00A0and wonderfully,\u00A0he chose to stay with her.\u00A0 &amp;quot;He knows that maybe the future will be without children. He&amp;#039;s OK with it. I&amp;#039;m also OK with that. I am one of the luckiest,&amp;quot; Joanna said. Follow Cat on Twitter. Like this? Come and check us out on Snapchat Discover.\u00A0  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/body/health/news/a42765/joanna-giannouli-woman-born-without-vagina/>