Teenage girl bravely talks about battle with Anorexia to help others

VIDEO: A TEENAGE girl who bravely battled cancer has opened her heart and spoken about her ongoing battle with Anorexia to help raise awareness of the condition during National Eating Disorder Week.

Elizabeth Everett aged 17, from Appleton Thorn, Warrington, broadcast her story live on facebook (see above) in the hope it will help others suffering from eating disorders – a condition she told her mum was worse than dealing with cancer.

Her mum Colleen contacted warrington-worldwide after reading about “the incredible lady” Eileen MacDonald, who recently spoke on video about her long battle with Anorexia.

Elizabeth was diagnosed ,aged 16 ,with OCD and Anorexia last year and is currently receiving treatment as she continues to try to beat it.

It is not the only battle she has had to face in her relatively short life. In 2015 she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and underwent chemotherapy at Alder Hey. She had every side effect going and her family were prepared for the worst when she contracted sepsis, CDiff and Ecoli in addition to many other life threatening infections.

Colleen said: “Never once did she feel sorry for herself , instead she was determined to make a difference and has since gone on to speak at a charity night in front of 800 people at the Parr Hall and has helped to raise thousands to buy chemotherapy for children in Bolivia.

“She recently told me that that Anorexia is so much worse than cancer- no 17 year old should have to say that and no Mum wants to hear it!”

“Elizabeth is absolutely determined to make a difference and help others. ”

She has written a poem about her experiences to help mark National Eating Disorder Week. (see below)

Reasons to Recover Poem
By Elizabeth Everett

There once was a girl who was known for her smile
She was content with her life and had been for a while.
With ambitions and strength, she made her parents proud,
However there was a voice in her head that was about to get loud.

There was one thing that cause the little girl anxiety,
It was her body, and this was cause by the pressures of society.
No flat stomach or thigh gap, she felt so insecure,
If I could only tell her now, she was worth so much more.

In the February she started exercising at the gym,
It was all so innocent, she just wanted to be thin.
Off she’d run, she would run for miles,
But the more she ran, the less she smiled.

In the March she went out laughing with her friends,
Little did she know, this all soon would end.
In the April she had reached her first target weight,
The body she once loved, she soon began to hate.

Over the summer it was hot yet she was cold,
‘You’re losing too much weight’, she was beginning to be told.
‘Just one more pound’, the voice in her head would say,
She was losing weight and happiness each and every day.

September was the month she lay empty in her bed,
Consumed by the voices inside her tired head.
She painfully looked down at her red, raw skin,
But this wasn’t enough, she was still desperate to be ‘thin’.

‘You have Anorexia’, the psychiatrist said,
She just stared at the carpet, wishing she was dead.
It was only then she realised it all made sense,
It was Anorexia that had caused her to be so intense.

The sun went down and she felt so alone,
Her hands and feet were freezing, she was chilled to the bone.
Her hair was brittle, it started to fall out,
‘You’re still not thin enough’, Anorexia would shout.
So she counted the calories and gave a little sigh,
She had lost her happiness and the sparkle in her eye.

She struggled to climb the stairs, she’d black out once again,
She know she wanted to recover, but wasn’t sure when.
When she was told her heart was struggling to beat,
She cried and cried and begged herself to eat.
She picked up her lunch, with lots of hesitation,
She calmed herself and whispered, ‘Food is my medication’.

She ate and ate and the more she gained,
The less she cared about the amount she weighed.
Her smile came back, her hair was thick,
Her health was restored, she was no longer sick.
When she stopped weighing food, she realised she was winning,
When she stopped counting calories, she started fully living.

Some people ask who I chose to recover for,
I say, ‘My heart, my smile, my body and more.
I did it for my family, mum, dad and brother,
These are all the reasons why I chose to recover’.

Read Eileen’s story here http://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2018/02/23/woman-tells-of-her-battle-with-an-eating-disorder/