09/06/2026
This amazing woman is doing incredible things for the lipoedema community in Ireland by raising awareness and by creating a support network that has become a lifeline for many women diagnosed with and suffering from this little understood condition 👏
A mother of two who spent years wondering why parts of her body were so out of proportion with her slim figure has revealed how a GP told her she just had 'fat legs'.
It was more than a decade after that visit that AnneMarie McGoldrick (37), from Carrigaline, Co Cork, found out she had lipoedema – a chronic condition that causes an abnormal build-up of fat beneath the skin, most commonly in the leg and arms.
'I noticed as child my legs looked different to others. They were very jelly-like, soft and squidgy and I could not find a calf muscle,' she said.
'Pain would come and go and in my late teens and 20s. When I was out socialising and drank alcohol, it affected my legs the next day.'
'When I had my second daughter, aged 31, the pain took over. My legs were very painful and heavy taking my baby upstairs. I had to sit on the on stairs and bum-shuffle. I knew it was not just fat legs,' Ms McGoldrick said.
The first breakthrough came when she attended a physiotherapist for shoulder pain.
'I asked them not to touch my legs because they were so tender. It was the physiotherapist who suggested I had classic lipoedema and it was a lightbulb moment,' she said.
Ms McGoldrick said there was still a lack of awareness and expertise in Ireland about lipoedema. The genetic condition predominantly affects females. It can affect 10-11pc of women. She has had to travel abroad for treatment with a surgeon who specialises in liposuction for lipoedema.
She is part of the Lipoedema Support Network Ireland is organising Ireland’s first national lipoedema conference. 'There is still a significant gap between the lived experience of patients and the level of clinical awareness in this country. We want this conference to help close that gap,' she said
