It is Eating disorder awareness week. Therefore tonight feels like the right time to share some of our familys struggles in the hope it brings more awareness to this very deadly disorder. I warn you in advance that this post is very deep and was hard to write. When our beautiful daughter Madison was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa last year, we had absolutely no idea of the frightening battle that was ahead of us all. It was devastating to also watch Kayla face the fear of what her sister was going through and feeling powerless to help. There was lots of initial why my daughter.. and self blaming and a lack of knowledge on this disorder. I dont like to dwell on the What Ifs... But I do know that lack of awareness of the warning signs played a part. Tonight was Maddies 2nd last maudsley program appointment which we attribute a lot of her recovery to. We drove home as a family tonight from that appointment chatting and laughing and we listened to this interview below. I really hope you can take a few minutes to watch it. We all felt it was a great and I discussed putting up this post. It feels like we have all held our breath for the last year hoping and waiting for recovery and luckily she is almost fully there now. I think now the reality of the past year really hits home even more as I find myself sometimes thinking of things that happened and I feel the trauma of it and It makes me cry all over again however at the time I just dealt with it and was determined to put every bit of energy I had into getting her well again, even if Maddie refused to cooperate because of the disorder. Anorexia has a frighteningly high mortality rate and believe me, when you are watching your child go through this, that statistic plays on your mind a lot. When Maddie was diagnosed we decided to be honest and tell people rather than play into the stigma that is often associated with these sort of things. I really believe that the openness and the support she received from our family and friends helped her to recover. It felt like every single person who knew her was supporting her and us. I will never ever forget the support, the phone calls and messages and the cooked meals for when we were back and fourth to the hospital over a couple of months, her family and friends visiting, pleading and encouraging her to get better and keeping her occupied playing cards. Support from the school and her teachers. My mum immediately coming to help out and being there for all of us at a very scary time. The support I personally received from my team at work allowed me to walk away from our businesses overnight for 6 months and they all kept it running beautifully so I could just focus on our family. I will never ever forget what they all did for us. Be aware of the warning signs to look for in family or friends and if you are worried seek help as soon as possible. Early intervention is the best chance for recovery from Anorexia. skynews.au/video/program_agenda/2014/09/02/agenda-one-million-suffering-eating-disorders-.html
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 11:31:29 +0000
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