The nightmare of the woman who hasn't urinated in two and a half years

Evan Francis, a 30-year-old from Britain, suffers from Fowler's syndrome, which causes urinary retention for two and a half years. She lives with a permanent catheter, suffered from 35 infections in seven months, and is waiting for a complex surgery that may improve her quality of life.

Evan Francis, a 30-year-old from Britain, suffers from Fowler's syndrome, a rare disorder causing urinary retention, and has been unable to urinate naturally for about two and a half years. At the height of the crisis, her abdomen swelled to the point where she appeared nine months pregnant, and doctors had to drain a liter of urine from her bladder. She was diagnosed in July 2024 and lives with a permanent catheter inserted through her abdomen. Francis suffered from 35 urinary tract infections in seven months and was hospitalized due to sepsis. A surgery to implant a bladder pacemaker in December 2025 failed. She is now waiting for a complex eight-hour surgery, in which her appendix will be used to create a new channel. She speaks about the shame, the blow to her self-confidence, and the difficulty with intimacy, and hopes to raise awareness of the syndrome.