Desperate plea to save daughter’s life
"She was the most bubbly child, out of a group of kids, she was the one who would laugh the loudest.”
A County Kildare mother is desperately appealing for help for her teenage daughter who she fears will die from Anorexia Nervosa, which stemmed from being bullied during primary school. Now a 15-year-old, the girl spends the day from 8am until 10pm, pacing the house, afraid to sit down in case she will put on weight.
Her mother says that she has been in hospital, with just 14 hours to live, with her heart-rate dropping. The mum added: “She has spent three weeks in a heart unit. I watched her, she still managed to hide food. I found food in her cardigan pockets, down the back of drawers, in her late nanny’s memory box, pockets, coats, anything. I am crying out for help.”
The mother, who wishes to remain anonymous in the media, says that there is inadequate resources in Ireland to treat children with Anorexia Nervosa.
She said that the hospitals in Ireland are not equipped to deal with children who have the condition. The family are trying to raise €25,000 in a bid to get her daughter the treatment that she needs in the UK.
The mother, said: “She self-harms due to being around food. “All the food from her school lunches would be hidden everywhere. I took two bags of food out of her room when she got admitted. She paces from 8am until 10pm.”
She said: “My daughter was very close to my mother. After her nanny died she went vegetarian, and then after that she got bullied. The girls got jealous that she was making friends, she got bullied on Snapchat. She is not allowed to use the phone. They were sending her pictures, they screen shot a picture of her with her father, and said, ‘you are after getting very chubby’. They were sending her messages calling her fat, telling her that she was ugly. All I could do was take the phone and internet off her.”
The girl was attending a school in Kildare and the children who were bullying her were not in the same school.
The mother said: “I am urgently appealing to the public to help me save my daughter’s life and getting her to the UK for treatment. She was the most bubbly child, out of a group of kids, she was the one who would laugh the loudest.”
During the lockdown, this girl’s parents say that they were unable to access the hospital that she was in for 13 weeks, and that not having her parents to visit during this time has left her in a worse condition with post-traumatic stress. She is now at home with her family.
The HSE say they can’t comment on ‘operational matters.’ To contribute to the fundraiser, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/fighting-ana?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR31uNjfBmIfLRFLJGPYR1rPQzL-e6gj3Iz9MGo1YGhMwvGADtp