Once upon a time, about 28 years ago to be precise, Margaret Thatcher led the country, Michael Jackson's Thriller topped the music charts, Channel 4 was launched, Princess Diana was 'the people's princess', ET was released in the cinemas and a married couple found out they were expecting a baby girl. She was born in the summer of 1983 into a loving family, wanted for nothing and everyone had such high hopes for her. She had potential, the chance to be and do anything she wanted. She could follow in her Dad's footsteps and become a doctor, or be a nurse or magistrate like her Mum. She could be a lawyer, teacher, even the Prime Minister.....although her family would have found it hard to deal with her being affiliated with any party other than Labour!
Instead, by the age of 27, the little girl with so much to offer and achieve had become consumed by illness. Having struggled with bulimia and binge eating during her teens and early twenties, she had descended into the deep, dark depths of anorexia and could not see a way out. Despite hospital stays and the help of various doctors and therapists, she could not fully engage in treatment and had put her body and mind through hell, refusing to let her body weight rise above an anorexic BMI for over two years. She knew she was going to die, if not physically, then mentally, because eating disorders destroy not only the sufferer's body, but also their soul, spirit and mind.
Here is where the story could go one of two ways. The little girl could either continue down the lonely path of self-destruction, starving herself and bingeing and purging into oblivion, pushing away the people who love her and want to help, until her body and loved ones finally give up on her. Or she could do the seemingly impossible and face her demons, gain weight, learn how to eat normally, regain her life, make herself and her family and friends proud and fulfill the potential of that much-loved little girl.
Unfortunately the reader does not get to decide the outcome of the story. Unlike the current BT adverts with Kris Marshall, this isn't a case of 'what happens next.....you decide'. I almost wish it were, as I was once the happy little girl with so much ahead of me and I know what people would choose for me. However, I am the only person who can decide how this end, and the sad truth is that right now, I really don't know what the final chapter will bring.
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