When Eating Disorders Attack

One of my friends from high school faced a challenging battle with anorexia. At the beginning of high school she was a healthy weight. Over time she began to loose a lot of weight and it wasn’t until prom of grade 12 that I became aware of how much she had really lost. (I went to a Catholic school, therefore we had a uniform. The uniform was quite baggy on most students making it hard to notice when someone gained or lost a few pounds.) On the night of prom, we were all piling into the limo when I noticed that you could see every bone on her back. My mom who was standing about 20 feet away also noticed this and pointed it out to one of the other moms.

Only a month a half later at graduation it was clear she had shed a significant amount of weight since prom. She was skin and bones. Throughout the summer and into the fall, she was in and out of hospitals until she finally flew across the country to seek more help. She was extremely depressed. Her eating disorder had truly taken over her life. Weeks on bed rest, a feed tubing, and countless pills a day. That was her life.

It was extremely hard for myself, as well as numerous others we went to school with, to learn about her disorder. All we could do was follow her ups and downs through social media and wish her a speedy recovery. I know she received a lot support while away for recovery, and still does to this day. She has fluctuated in weight since this all time low, but for the most part has been able to remain a healthy weight. She is overall happier with her life, having learned to fight through some of the toughest times of her life. I am so thankful that she was able to receive the help she needed before it was too late.