You may remember a story I sent you in July of a young lad, Ben, celebrating his fifth year anniversary in his recovery journey. Since then he has secured a place in the 2020 London Marathon and is raising money for Beat. His mum wrote me this email this week:
“It is hard to put into words just how I feel today, in fact there are no words to describe how I feel. When Ben was diagnosed with anorexia 5 years ago we had no idea of the journey we were about to embark on. Anorexia is an illness whose sole purpose is to take life and it does not care what it has to do to achieve its aim. It strips your loved one of everything that they once believed about themselves and is way more than being petrified of eating and drinking. At the beginning the sufferer and those caring for them have to fight 24/7 just to keep the person alive, this goes on for a very long time.
Without our family, friends, professionals fighting with Ben and people praying for Ben, he would not be where he is today. Ben, YOU ARE MY INSPIRATION. What you have achieved in the past five years is INCREDIBLE. I will be ‘running’ around the Marathon course cheering you on.
I will be THE PROUDEST Mum there.