Mum shares shocking photos of her anorexic daughter, 19, in a desperate attempt to raise money for life-saving treatment
Sarah Weddle wants to raise awareness about the illness her daughter Chloe has been battling for the past four years
A MUM has shared shocking photos of her anorexic daughter in a bid to raise enough money on to give her life-saving psychiatric treatment.
Tragically, Sarah Weddle, 40, believes her daughter Chloe's condition has become so severe that attending a private health clinic is their last hope.
As well as raising funds, the distraught mum also wants to raise awareness of this increasingly common condition. She worries NHS eating disorder units lack enough money to treat severe cases of the illness.
Sarah hopes that by sharing her 19-year-old daughter's story, she will be able to help other parents spot telltale signs of the disorder.
Chloe, who has dreams of going to university to study Marine Biology, has battled her anorexia nervosa for the past four years and it's believed to have been brought on by her parent's divorce.
"Chloe was always self-conscious about her weight when she was young, but it wasn't until she was almost 16 when I started to notice her skipping meals or saying she had ate at a friends house," Sarah told The Sun Online.
"She took the breakdown of mine and her dad's marriage really hard and I've been told since that a trauma can trigger anorexia.
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"They can't control what's going on around them, but they can control what they eat. It's like a safety net, a comfort thing."
When Sarah started noticing her daughter's condition, she immediately tried to get help from doctors.
"Over the past four years Chloe has been an inpatient in three different eating disorder units in Scotland, Darlington and the last one at the Richardson Unit in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary Hospital where she spent five months," explains Sarah.
But each of these have failed and Sarah believes this is because the NHS simply doesn't have the funding to treat severe cases of eating disorders.
"The problem is that there is not enough funding on the NHS to treat anorexia. They concentrate on 're-feeding' and weight restoration, they don't receive enough for intense therapy sessions," says Sarah.
"It upsets her and myself, because she really doesn't want to be this way. She wants to live a normal life, go out with friends and go to university to study Marine Biology. But the without the correct treatment, I can't see that ever happening."
Now, in a last ditch attempt to help, Sarah has turned to crowdfunding to try and raise money so Chloe can attend a private health clinic which will offer her the essential treatment she needs.
"Private clinics concentrate on Holistic Therapy as well as a nutritional dietary plan and regular monitoring of weight, bloods etc," Sarah explains.
"This is what I feel Chloe desperately needs. And I am terrified I'm going to lose her. People die of anorexia all of the time, it has the highest rate of mortality than any other mental illness."
Although some people may believe that anorexia is a vanity issue, Sarah is keen to stress that this isn't the case, explaining that "it's a very serious and dangerous mental illness, which can kill."
As well as raising money for Chloe's treatment, Sarah wants to raise awareness of the disorder and has offered some words of advice for other parents.
"To other parents who suspect their child may have an eating disorder, I would say, don't just go off weight, weight loss is the side effects of anorexia, it IS NOT the cause.
"If they find their child talking unhealthily about dieting or exercise, refusing meals, or find them looking at pro-Ana websites, then please take them to their GP.
"If you have no luck there (as I didn't) speak to a school nurse, who can refer you to the right services.
"Don't waste time, don't brush it off as a phase, the longer it goes on, the harder it is and before you know it your child is in the full grips of a very deadly illness."
Sarah has set up a page, called Help Save Chloe, where people can donate to her cause and for more information the family have also set up a