Help Jenn Patterson Recover from Anorexia

Please help me save my best friend’s life.

Jenn has struggled with anorexia since 2009 when she was diagnosed at 12 years old. She is now 24 and has struggled for 12 years. She needs help, but can’t access the help she needs. 

Her mother’s statement and sharing of her history can be found in the updates of this campaign as well.  Here is a bit about the fundraising goal:
Currently, she is on another extensive waitlist for a virtual program that is unlikely to service her needs. Though everything was put in place by Jenn and her family physician to apply for OHIP funding to a program in the US that would aid her in her recovery, a barrier was put into place by a psychiatrist deeming she was not “severe” enough to need such help. This was despite her history, the support of family doctors and counsellors and the inability of the program the psychiatrist is associated with to service her until many months later. This was devastating for her and invalidated all of her desires to get well. Her health deteriorates daily. After rather good progress for several years after her time in a residential program at age 16, we are hopeful that a program of similar quality and design will help her finally get out of this cyclical disease once and for all. Unfortunately, none of these programs in Canada are covered by OHIP. The least expensive option costs $50,000+ to attend which is simply not feasible for us. 

I met my girl Jenn playing soccer when we were 12/13 years old, went our separate ways during high school and university, but reconnected after we both graduated university and moved back home to Burlington. We have been attached at the hip ever since. She is my best friend. She has been there for me through a lot, including supporting me through my own struggles with mental illness. She pushed me to go back to therapy, she has saved me from really low points and let me cry to her WAY TOO MANY TIMES. We talk everyday, no joke we send good morning and good night texts. I don’t know what I would do without her. After everything she has done for me, it is my turn to do everything I can to help her and that’s why I’ve started this GoFundMe. I’m hoping to raise funds to get her treatment at Homewood Health in Guelph that her and her single mother cannot afford otherwise.


Since we reconnected in 2018 I have watched Jenn’s health decline.. Get better… decline… and get better and once again decline. I was by her side when she decided to take medical leave from work in 2019 because she was so sick. I watched her slowly get better and watched her be able to participate in a kind of normal life in the summer of 2020…. Just to watch her slip back into the depths of her eating disorder again, which is where she is now - Sicker than I have ever seen her.


My best friend’s health is declining daily and I’m genuinely afraid that with every day that passes I’m one day closer to losing her for good. This vicious cycle is going to end eventually, either with her getting better FINALLY or with her dying, and I much prefer the former.

Anorexia Nervosa has one of the highest overall mortality rates and the highest suicide rate of any psychiatric disorder. The risk of death is three times higher than for depression, schizophrenia or alcoholism and 12 times higher than in the general population (National Initiative for Eating Disorders). Jenn wants to access care, but the lack of publicly funded programs (especially for adults) is a major barrier. Programs are limited, waitlists are long, and barriers have been put into place by other medical professionals to bar her from access to residential treatment in the US despite them being unable to offer her the current support she needs.

I know eating disorders can be hard to understand for those of us who do not experience them, but they are serious, deeply rooted, unrelenting and complex. They have damaging effects and require a lot of support to in order to heal. Here are some of the long term symptoms:

Long-term symptoms may include: (CAMH)

bone thinning
muscle wasting and weakness
low blood pressure
slowed breathing and pulse
heart damage
brain damage
multi-organ failure
changes in menstruation
infertility.

Please consider donating to help pay for her treatment so that she can finally get out of this vicious cycle to not only survive, but to thrive in life like she deserves. If you can’t donate please share this GoFundMe and spread the word about Eating Disorders and the lack of accessible care.