Emily's Story

Hi. My name is Emily, I am fourteen, I live in the US, and I have CAIS.

In my family, AIS is hereditary, so until I was about eleven, we (me and my parents) knew it was likely I had it. I was tested around the age of eleven (I'm not exactly certain of the age) and we found out I had it. My parents didn't really know exactly what was going on, so they told me I had it. I never knew until not even a month ago what it was.

So far I've told about four of my friends, plus my parents. Although, in the last year or two, I have told a million people that I don't get my period and that I can't have kids. I'm actually pretty laid-back about it. It doesn't bother me all that much and I'm actually quite proud. I did cry for an hour or so when I found about it, but the good things about CAIS outweigh the bad things by far, and I'm not quite sure what all of the fuss is about. No pubic hair means no shaving. No period means no pads, tampons, or blood everywhere. Even though you can't give birth to a baby of your own, you can adopt which can sometimes be much better. You get to give a parentless child a loving home, what is wrong with that?

Anyway, I haven't had the surgery yet. I'm pretty sure I will sometime within the next two years, but I'm not sure when. I need to find out a lot more about everything that will happen before I make my decision.

And one last thing about the "no sexual intercourse" stuff. Just because you love a person doesn't mean you need to have sex with them, you can show your love so many other ways. In my opinion, everyone with CAIS is making a mountain out of a molehill.

Well, thanks for listening to what I have to say, I hope I didn't bore you too much and that you take what I said into consideration.