Help Crystal Fight Anorexia, Dissociative Identity
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The first time I met Crystal, her hug made me feel like we’d known each other our whole lives. Crystal was my then-boyfriend’s sister and had just been released from residential treatment for anorexia. Her family, eager to see her and bring her home, had invited me to pile into their van with them and go pick her up. Even though Crystal could have understandably focused on her excitement to see her family, she was still excited to meet me.
Her brother and I married the next year, and it was easy to call her my sister.
Her mother fondly recalls Crystal’s tenth birthday, when Crys asked to visit children in the hospital, requesting that her friends bring supplies to make goody bags at her birthday party instead of bringing birthday presents.
Then for her sixteenth birthday, upwards of fifty people turned up to show her how loved she is. She took them all Christmas caroling around the neighborhood.
Crystal Henderson is easy to love and be loved by. She is genuine and earnest. She has a magnetism that draws people to her. You feel truly heard when you talk to her. She is absolutely delighted by any gift she receives. Crystal is also incredibly intelligent, creative, curious, spirited, generous, funny, fun, open-minded, and open-hearted. Her nieces and nephews adore her. She loves animals with all of her soul and has worked for an animal shelter and as an assistant vet tech at an emergency animal hospital. She loves to read in the bath and is a talented writer. She has the memory of an elephant. Some of her favorite things are her dad’s shoulder massages and a girls’ day out with her mom, sisters, and nieces.
Unfortunately, Crystal’s life hasn’t always been rosy, despite having wonderfully loving and supportive family and friends. She has far more than anyone’s fair share of struggles, particularly with her mental health—so now we plead for your help to keep her with us.
Crystal’s battle with anorexia began a decade ago, and she has since been in and out of treatment for anorexia and associated complications like depression and anxiety. Early this year, Crystal found herself in suffocating darkness and was admitted to a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, where she was able to recuperate but not recover fully. Her anorexia is more crushing than ever, which she has recently shared openly with her Facebook friends.
She has spent months seeking residential treatment, which is the best treatment for her needs right now, but she has been repeatedly turned away, even from the treatment center outside which I first met Crys. Frustrating phone tag with her insurance company and many treatment centers has plagued her for months.
But she received residential treatment before—why has she been turned away now? Crystal wants everyone to know why—what has changed. In January, Crystal was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of abuse as a young girl by an adult outside of the family. This trauma in turn has triggered dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is “characterized by alternating between multiple identities” (National Alliance on Mental Illness, nami.org). We’ve learned that most clinics are not equipped to treat both anorexia (with its associated illnesses) and DID.
For months, Crystal has sought to do exactly what everyone says to do when you’re in darkness—get help. But our country’s health care system has made this a nearly impossible task. The good news is, though, that Crystal has finally found residential treatment that will help her—they will monitor her health and safety, provide therapeutic and nutritional support, and treat both her anorexia and DID.
I wish I could say the trouble ends there, but it doesn’t.
While her insurance will cover some of the cost, she will still be saddled with a $5,000 bill. But Crystal has not been able to work for months and is not in a position to cover the cost. And while her close family plans to contribute what we can, we also cannot cover all of it.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and one in five anorexia deaths are caused by suicide (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, ANAD.org). In other words, getting Crystal treatment is not optional; it is literally life or death.
We need her.
So I humbly ask for your help. Truly this a strange time for the world, with COVID-19 dominating the news, with people in quarantine, with the future uncertain. Crystal’s future without treatment is likewise uncertain. If you are able to give anything during this troubling time, we humbly appreciate your help. It doesn’t matter how large or small your contribution; we are deeply grateful for anything you can give.
Crystal has a tattoo on her wrist that reads, “Strength in pain.” Crystal embodies this; she is extraordinarily strong—and strong-willed :)—but there are some things that no one should fight alone without a professional. And she plans to pay it forward: Once she has made a full recovery, she intends to pursue a master’s degree to become a therapist specializing in eating disorders and DID. She will do so much good as she provides the help that has been so difficult for her to find in our health care system today.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your help.
Her brother and I married the next year, and it was easy to call her my sister.
Her mother fondly recalls Crystal’s tenth birthday, when Crys asked to visit children in the hospital, requesting that her friends bring supplies to make goody bags at her birthday party instead of bringing birthday presents.
Then for her sixteenth birthday, upwards of fifty people turned up to show her how loved she is. She took them all Christmas caroling around the neighborhood.
Crystal Henderson is easy to love and be loved by. She is genuine and earnest. She has a magnetism that draws people to her. You feel truly heard when you talk to her. She is absolutely delighted by any gift she receives. Crystal is also incredibly intelligent, creative, curious, spirited, generous, funny, fun, open-minded, and open-hearted. Her nieces and nephews adore her. She loves animals with all of her soul and has worked for an animal shelter and as an assistant vet tech at an emergency animal hospital. She loves to read in the bath and is a talented writer. She has the memory of an elephant. Some of her favorite things are her dad’s shoulder massages and a girls’ day out with her mom, sisters, and nieces.
Unfortunately, Crystal’s life hasn’t always been rosy, despite having wonderfully loving and supportive family and friends. She has far more than anyone’s fair share of struggles, particularly with her mental health—so now we plead for your help to keep her with us.
Crystal’s battle with anorexia began a decade ago, and she has since been in and out of treatment for anorexia and associated complications like depression and anxiety. Early this year, Crystal found herself in suffocating darkness and was admitted to a psychiatric unit of a general hospital, where she was able to recuperate but not recover fully. Her anorexia is more crushing than ever, which she has recently shared openly with her Facebook friends.
She has spent months seeking residential treatment, which is the best treatment for her needs right now, but she has been repeatedly turned away, even from the treatment center outside which I first met Crys. Frustrating phone tag with her insurance company and many treatment centers has plagued her for months.
But she received residential treatment before—why has she been turned away now? Crystal wants everyone to know why—what has changed. In January, Crystal was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of abuse as a young girl by an adult outside of the family. This trauma in turn has triggered dissociative identity disorder (DID), which is “characterized by alternating between multiple identities” (National Alliance on Mental Illness, nami.org). We’ve learned that most clinics are not equipped to treat both anorexia (with its associated illnesses) and DID.
For months, Crystal has sought to do exactly what everyone says to do when you’re in darkness—get help. But our country’s health care system has made this a nearly impossible task. The good news is, though, that Crystal has finally found residential treatment that will help her—they will monitor her health and safety, provide therapeutic and nutritional support, and treat both her anorexia and DID.
I wish I could say the trouble ends there, but it doesn’t.
While her insurance will cover some of the cost, she will still be saddled with a $5,000 bill. But Crystal has not been able to work for months and is not in a position to cover the cost. And while her close family plans to contribute what we can, we also cannot cover all of it.
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and one in five anorexia deaths are caused by suicide (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, ANAD.org). In other words, getting Crystal treatment is not optional; it is literally life or death.
We need her.
So I humbly ask for your help. Truly this a strange time for the world, with COVID-19 dominating the news, with people in quarantine, with the future uncertain. Crystal’s future without treatment is likewise uncertain. If you are able to give anything during this troubling time, we humbly appreciate your help. It doesn’t matter how large or small your contribution; we are deeply grateful for anything you can give.
Crystal has a tattoo on her wrist that reads, “Strength in pain.” Crystal embodies this; she is extraordinarily strong—and strong-willed :)—but there are some things that no one should fight alone without a professional. And she plans to pay it forward: Once she has made a full recovery, she intends to pursue a master’s degree to become a therapist specializing in eating disorders and DID. She will do so much good as she provides the help that has been so difficult for her to find in our health care system today.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your help.
Organizer and beneficiary
Caroline Bliss Larsen
Organizer
Provo, UT
Leslie Larsen
Beneficiary