I’m reaching out on behalf of my daughter, Jordan. She has been courageously battling an eating disorder for over 15 years. This is a devastating illness—one that even most doctors don’t fully understand, and far too few take the time to truly learn about. It’s not as simple as saying, “Just eat this,” or “Take a bite.” For those struggling, it is not a matter of willpower—they truly cannot. Every 52 minutes 1 person dies as a direct consequence of an eating disorder.

Jordan is now taking an important & brave step: setting aside time from work to receive more intensive treatment. This focused care is vital to her recovery, but it also means she’ll be facing some financial challenges. She still needs to cover her rent and groceries, along with the added cost of treatment (which is extremely expensive).

If you feel led to help, any contribution—big or small—will make a meaningful difference in her journey toward recovery.

And one thing that costs nothing but means everything—your prayers.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for caring, for standing with Jordan, and for believing in her recovery.

The Hawkins Family

In addition to attempting to raise the necessary funds, we also hope to help educate a bit more about this extremely misunderstood disorder… please take the time to read the below statistics:

Should also recommend reading the book “sick enough” if they want to learn more

General Eating Disorder Statistics (from the National Eating Disorders Association)

• Eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness behind opiate addiction.

• Over 3.3 million healthy life years worldwide are lost yearly because of eating disorders.

• In a nationally representative US-based study, up to 23% of individuals with BED (Bulimia Eating Disorder) had attempted suicide, and virtually all (94%) reported lifetime mental health symptoms: 70% mood disorders, 68% substance use disorders, 59% anxiety disorders, 49% borderline personality disorder, and 32% posttraumatic stress disorder.

• 9% of the US population, or 30 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.

• The overall lifetime prevalence of eating disorders is estimated to be 8.60% among females and 4.07% among males.

• Global eating disorder prevalence increased from 3.5% to 7.8% between 2000 and 2018.

• 22% of children and adolescents worldwide show disordered eating.

• Despite the fact that individuals with higher body weight have a 2.45 times greater chance of engaging in disordered eating behaviors as patients of normal weight, such patients receive a clinical diagnosis of an eating disorder half as frequently as patients with normal weight or underweight.

• A meta analysis found that atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN) occurs more frequently than anorexia nervosa in community samples, however fewer individuals with AAN are referred or admitted to special care for eating disorders.