Hours after landing in Las Vegas for a dinner celebrating her late father, Bindi Irwin was taken to the hospital.

The 26-year-old naturalist missed the renowned event she was scheduled to attend with her mother Terri Irwin and brother Robert Irwin after suffering a ruptured appendix and being rushed into surgery on Saturday.

Robert informed People magazine that her mother is beside Bindi’s bedside as she recovers.

“She’s going to be okay, but surgery – out of all the things we were ready for, that was not one of them,” Robert explained.

Terri missed the occasion as well because she accompanied her daughter to the hospital and remained by her side for the procedure.

Robert clarified that Bindi had attempted to persevere despite experiencing some discomfort prior to the gala.

She was prepared to put up a brave front when she arrived in Las Vegas. Her words were, “I’m just going to tough it out.”

But the surgeon told her, “Your appendix is going. It’s got to come out.”

Robert was able to attend the gala, which raises money for their group Wildlife Warriors, but Terri and Bindi were unable to do so. It was there that he broke the bad news.

Bindi has experienced health issues in the past few years.

The media celebrity talked candidly about the difficulties she encountered behind closed doors in a rare interview.

In a recent interview with Sarah Grynberg for the A Life of Greatness podcast, she talked about her experience with loss, her chronic disease, and the significance of advocating for women’s health.

Bindi struggled with serious, undetected health problems for over ten years, keeping them a secret from everyone except her younger brother Robert, mother Terri, and husband Chandler Powell.

“Behind closed doors I was struggling to do anything and everything,” she said.

She frequently felt alone and misunderstood because of her severe exhaustion, ongoing discomfort, and having to postpone professional responsibilities.

“People must have thought I was just incredibly flaky because I was getting so sick… I would try to get up, and I really would just throw up. I was in so much pain all the time,” Bindi said.

She was eventually identified with more than 30 endometriosis lesions, some of which were so crippling that they had attached her ovary to her side, after years of doctors telling her that her symptoms were “just part of being a woman.”

In the United States, she had surgery that transformed her life.

“Endometriosis is an enormous problem for so many people, and it’s not talked about enough. I went 10 years undiagnosed because doctors didn’t know enough,” she said.

She described how many women with endometriosis suffer in silence for years after receiving a false diagnosis of anything like IBS or hormonal problems.

Bindi said she had ‘every tropical disease’ tested and scanned, including MRIs, CT scans, ultrasounds, and blood tests, but ‘nothing came back’.

“I was so sick for so long,” she said.

Bindi was fortunate to have her family by her side no matter what.

“I was so lucky where I had such a supportive family and they never gave up on me,” she said.

They dealt with it for 10 years just as much as I did, trying to find answers and helping me along the way and saying, “Hey, you’re collapsed on the floor. You probably should get some help and you shouldn’t listen to the doctors saying this is normal.”

“But so many people don’t have that circle of people that they can count on. And so you turn to the medical industry looking for assistance and it can cause anxiety and depression – it’s very isolating.”

“And that’s where it just is so difficult. So you turn to people who you think will help you, and sometimes you don’t get the care that you so desperately deserve.”

After years of suffering, Bindi attributes her decision to seek medical attention to the birth of her daughter, Grace.

“When I was so sick, it was hard to be the mum I wanted to be. Then I thought, I have to do something. This can’t just all be in my head,” she explained.

Bindi admits that there is no treatment for endometriosis, but she says she is in a lot better position now that she had surgery.

“There’s no cure, but if you get surgery, you have a better shot at life. Maybe in five or 10 years, I’ll need another one, but for now, I’m so grateful.”

Bindi is currently advocating for improved education in women’s healthcare, specifically about endometriosis, by using her voice and platform.

By telling her story, she aims to inspire more women to take charge of their health and fight for improved diagnosis and treatment options.

“I was so scared to share my story because I thought it was all in my head. After a dozen doctors tell you you’re crazy, you start to believe them,” Bindi said.

Bindi has made it her mission to spread the word about the debilitating illness.

“If you are having a hard time, if your periods are really painful, please go get help. Please get assistance because it is a really scary disease,” she said.

Despite her challenges, Bindi is dedicated to her family’s wildlife conservation goal, continuing her late father’s work while forging her own route.

“I try to be that glass half full kind of person. Even in difficult times, I believe we are in control of how we treat others and how we view the world,” she said.

And if she’s hoping to teach her daughter anything, it’s to live as passionately, purposefully, and resiliently as her father did.

She remembers how much responsibility rested on her mother as the leader of the household and the company when her father passed away.

“They were a team,” she said. “And then the whole world shifted and landed on her shoulders. And yet, through it all, she was there for me and Robert and still is to this day.”

Bindi also disclosed that she suffered from significant separation anxiety as a result of becoming extremely protective of her mother and younger brother Robert after losing her father.

“It was really scary,” she admitted. “After you lose the strongest person in your life, you worry about losing everyone else too.”

Terri managed to help her kids deal with the unfathomable loss by establishing a straightforward yet effective nighttime routine to help them stay rooted.

“She started this game after we lost Dad,” Bindi explained. “Every day, we’d say: What are we thankful for? What was our good deed for the day? And what are we looking forward to tomorrow?”

“Some days are just crappy, and your shower is the only thing you can be thankful for,” Bindi laughed. “But you’re still thankful for it. And that’s what matters.”

Bindi says she wishes to instill in her daughter Grace the same virtues her parents taught her: kindness, resiliency, and an everlasting commitment to wildlife protection.

While filming on the Great Barrier Reef, Steve was hit by a stingray and died in 2006.

The conservation nonprofit Wildlife Warriors, which Steve and Terri created in 2002, is supported by the money raised during the event.