This is a story of a local girl….. a story, I am glad to say, with a happy ending. The young lady who tells it so well is a close friend of my daughter Karlee, who lived her school years here in Javea as a student at XIC. She was a bubbly, funny young teenager 10 years ago and like my daughter, she was a bit of a non-conformist at school and was not easily led by her peers into doing the “stuff” that the other girls did.
She returned to the UK after finishing school but the girls had a close bond and have always stayed in touch. She became a very successful photographer from a very young age and is, even now, only 23 years old. BUT, even from a distance we could all see that Laura was unwell. Her photos gave away the fact that losing her “puppy fat” was going a little too far and I know that Karlee was very worried about her.
School Days 2010
However, Laura has bravely conquered this debilitating illness and is now working toward raising more awareness of the effects it can have on lives, not only of the sufferer but also the families and friends who surround them.
This is Laura’s heartfelt story.
“For the last three years I’ve battled anorexia. A horrendous, vile, misunderstood illness which has affected not only myself, but the ones I love dearly.
I never imagined it would happen to me, I had no concept of what it was an as it crept up on me, it warped my life.
Laura in 2016
There are just as many mental health illnesses as physical illnesses and this needs to be more widely acknowledged. I first went to my GP when I recognised I was having issues with food and exercise addiction. I was told my BMI wasn’t low enough for me to be suffering with an eating disorder which led me to being misdiagnosed and becoming very physically and mentally ill. If I had been correctly treated and listened to by someone who understood anorexia is a mental health issue and not a physical weight, perhaps me becoming so unwell could have been prevented.
An eating disorder isn’t disordered eating. Forgetting to eat, getting too thin or feeling churned up and turning down a meal doesn’t mean you have anorexia. On the simplest level an eating disorder is an obsessive preoccupation with food, exercise, weight, purging, binging and body image. It’s an intense addiction, it is crippling. It interferes in a harmful way on social life, family, work and on how you perceive yourself. It impacts us physically, mentally and behaviorally.
It’s a loud intrusive voice that questions everything you do. It is used to displace painful emotions that you’re unable to face.
You can read more here and please, if you have a little cash to sponsor her skydive (something I could never do!) please press the donate button on the page. We know not everyone is not is a position to donate but maybe just share the page via Facebook please.
We, her friends here in Spain are very proud of her and all of us on Javea Connect wish Laura heaps of luck with her exceptionally brave crusade.
Loraine.
Laura was also interviewed on BBC Breakfast TV in the UK
