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Our daughter, Emily, develped an Eating Disorder when she was 8 years old. Yep, 8 years old. I can't even express the pain of watching your own child starve, develop horrible Eating Disorder symptoms like an irregular heart rate, blue finger nails, growing downy hair all over her body as her body was forced into retaining heat, like suken -in eyes, and organ failure knocking on the door. She stopped growing, her hair began to fall out, her life was falling apart, and so was the life of the family.
I was suddenly a single mom. So I was alone. 3 children, 1 dying. I sent her to the Princeton Eating Disorder Unit by the time she was 11 only after seeking out doctors and therapists who didn't seem to know how to help her. Absolutely broke and working so hard to put food on the table.....food that Emily refused to eat, I struggled with finding the right care for her. After months of her being in the hospital and dragging her sister and brother to see her every week into a hospital unit of young girls that resembled a dying village of a third-world country. The driving 120 miles and barely being able to put enough gas in the car to get back and forth to Princeton Hospital was frightening. Sure enough Emily began to gain weight, and what happened then, insurance cut her off, and threw her home......not recovered.
For the next 10 YEARS, Emily was a patient at the Eating Disorder Unit 4 times. She missed 3 months in elementary school, 4 months as a Pompton Lakes High School freshmen, 3 months as a high school junior, and 3 months of her first year of college. And through it all, the hospital bills were more money than people win in lotteries. No money in the bank, went in and out of foreclosure, and praying for a miracle.
Fact: insurance companies cut off Eating Disorder patients when the get to 80% of their goal weight DESPITE if they are recovering or not. They force the girls in the hospital to eat, then they go home, then they starve...all over again.
A few months after I married Danny Sturm, Emily was getting extremely sick AGAIN. Okay, hospitalization #5, how can we pay off the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hospitalization and send her yet again for the 5th time. Danny and I gave the hospital every penny we could ever find. Emily's 5th time, we found a Eating Disorder Residential Facility in Utah. Emily was gone for almost 7 months. So, her brother, sister, and Danny and I watched her board a plane, (a flight that we couldn't pay for) and fly 2,000 miles away for 7 months and praise the Lord, a healthy, beautiful, Emily arrived back home. Now, we are bracing ourselves for hospitalization # 6. Emily is struggling again, and we are, once again, hoping and praying for her recovery process to be successful.
Recovery as we know is a process and just like a drug or alchohol program, she wakes up every day and tries to recommitt to owning her truth and saving her own life. Our family is strong, her brother and sister have worked through years of heartache and hoping that Emily would live, and we love each other more than words can say. What is left over is more money than we even know how to pay and the bills, creditors, and collection continue to haunt us.
At this point, we have paid all we have, applied to the state for help, borrowed money, and still owe so much money. So I guess if Emily could find the courage to finally admit that she needed help and accept that help, than Danny and I are going to have to find the courage to publically say that, unfortunately, we need some help too. We love our Emily! We never give up, she doesn't give up, and I send every single sick child and struggling family my love and prayers each and every day.
Love, Meg and Danny xo
I was suddenly a single mom. So I was alone. 3 children, 1 dying. I sent her to the Princeton Eating Disorder Unit by the time she was 11 only after seeking out doctors and therapists who didn't seem to know how to help her. Absolutely broke and working so hard to put food on the table.....food that Emily refused to eat, I struggled with finding the right care for her. After months of her being in the hospital and dragging her sister and brother to see her every week into a hospital unit of young girls that resembled a dying village of a third-world country. The driving 120 miles and barely being able to put enough gas in the car to get back and forth to Princeton Hospital was frightening. Sure enough Emily began to gain weight, and what happened then, insurance cut her off, and threw her home......not recovered.
For the next 10 YEARS, Emily was a patient at the Eating Disorder Unit 4 times. She missed 3 months in elementary school, 4 months as a Pompton Lakes High School freshmen, 3 months as a high school junior, and 3 months of her first year of college. And through it all, the hospital bills were more money than people win in lotteries. No money in the bank, went in and out of foreclosure, and praying for a miracle.
Fact: insurance companies cut off Eating Disorder patients when the get to 80% of their goal weight DESPITE if they are recovering or not. They force the girls in the hospital to eat, then they go home, then they starve...all over again.
A few months after I married Danny Sturm, Emily was getting extremely sick AGAIN. Okay, hospitalization #5, how can we pay off the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hospitalization and send her yet again for the 5th time. Danny and I gave the hospital every penny we could ever find. Emily's 5th time, we found a Eating Disorder Residential Facility in Utah. Emily was gone for almost 7 months. So, her brother, sister, and Danny and I watched her board a plane, (a flight that we couldn't pay for) and fly 2,000 miles away for 7 months and praise the Lord, a healthy, beautiful, Emily arrived back home. Now, we are bracing ourselves for hospitalization # 6. Emily is struggling again, and we are, once again, hoping and praying for her recovery process to be successful.
Recovery as we know is a process and just like a drug or alchohol program, she wakes up every day and tries to recommitt to owning her truth and saving her own life. Our family is strong, her brother and sister have worked through years of heartache and hoping that Emily would live, and we love each other more than words can say. What is left over is more money than we even know how to pay and the bills, creditors, and collection continue to haunt us.
At this point, we have paid all we have, applied to the state for help, borrowed money, and still owe so much money. So I guess if Emily could find the courage to finally admit that she needed help and accept that help, than Danny and I are going to have to find the courage to publically say that, unfortunately, we need some help too. We love our Emily! We never give up, she doesn't give up, and I send every single sick child and struggling family my love and prayers each and every day.
Love, Meg and Danny xo