Sock-it day is 3rd March 2017 and it was 3rd March 2014 when I had my first CAMHs appointment for my 13 year old daughter and a few weeks later we received the diagnosis we were dreading: severe anorexia. Our daughter had been battling with the beginning symptoms of anorexia (self image and self esteem issues) two years prior to this and starting restricting her food intake in March 2013. So we had already been on a very long journey before we had even reached the stage of receiving specialised help. For 6 months we had repeatedly taken her to GP appointments but to no avail. It wasnt until our daughter was living on a mere 400 calories every day, would eerily stand in the corner of a room all day long unable to allow herself to sit and her weight had dropped off the charts that she was finally deemed ill enough for treatment!  

What lay ahead for us over the next few years is often too traumatic to comprehend. Whilst we were fighting every second of every day to ensure she took her medicine (ie food) five times a day; our daughter was even more ferociously fighting us back in an attempt to stop us. For years we had to live with a daughter who hated her life and hated her family with equal measure. Her strongest desire was to no longer be a part of this world. Living was just too difficult for her to comprehend.

The normalities of family life were stripped from us all. Usual routines had to stop whilst we all put our energies into fighting this dreadful illness. I think that the pain of having to watch my young daughter on a slow and determined path of self-destruction due to the utter mental turmoil that anorexia inflicted upon her will haunt me forever. 

But even with specialist treatment we could see she was not improving and our family life was being ripped apart. With an extremely heavy heart we had to decide to put our precious daughter in a hospital over 40miles away from home for four long months of treatment in an attempt to save her life. 

And even after her discharge from hospital the battle began to maintain her weight when all she wanted to do was lose weight. We had to take control over her entire life at a stage when children are usually being given increased independence. She was totally incapable of feeding herself and relied on us to successfully feed her all her daily meals. As I saw it, one skipped meal or mouthful would be a victory to anorexia and one step closer to losing our daughter to this illness.  We were not prepared to allow this to happen so spent four years in total battling with this illness in attempt to save our daughter.

Thankfully, our determination means that she is now in a far healthier place. She has been weight restored for over a year and her brain is finally healing from the damage that prolonged starvation had caused. But the fear of a relapse is ever-present. 

The CEDA support group was set up for carers like me to offer a friendly chat and provide a support network. By sharing our own lived experiences we help each other along this difficult journey.  We will be raising funds for Beat on 3rd March by wearing our wacky socks and asking for donations to ssupport our cause.

Beat is the UK's leading eating disorder charity. Beat supports anyone with an eating disorder, their friends and family, as well as professionals working with or worried about an individual in their care. These serious mental illnesses include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. 725,000 people in the UK have a diagnosed eating disorder. They affect people of all ages and backgrounds, and up to one in four sufferers are male. Eating disorders cost the UK's economy £16.8 billion each year.

Raising funds will help Beat to continue its research and support work but also to raise much-needed awareness and understanding about eating disorders. Anorexia is one of the least understood mental illness but is also the most deadly. Increased understanding and awareness can help save lives.  Please donate and support our cause.