First Person Experience Story

Eating Disorders are an epidemic sweeping the nation. Young girls and women get an idea of what is portrayed as beautiful and if they aren't as thin as the models they see in the media, they starve themselves or purge.
Anorexia is a disorder that has unfortunately affected my life for several years now. When my sister Caryn was 10 years old she became anorexic after a girl in her class said she looked fat. This was extremely difficult for my family and I to deal with, and it is still a bit of a struggle to this day, even though my sister is now 23 years old.
Going through such a struggle has been a life changing experience for me. Not only witnessing first hand how fiddicult it was for my sister, but also for my mom, who is a single parent doing everything she could for my sister to get better. Going with my mom and sister to nutritionists, dietitians, and therapists, I realized at an early age the severity of anorexia.
My mom and I had to work as a team everyday to help my sister get better. I was only 8 years olf at the time, but going through this experience made me grow up very quickly. Each meal was a battle and her toad to recovery was a bumpy one, but with time and a lot of support from her famly and friends my sister eventually overcame her sickness.
I look at the pressures the media puts on girls today and it makes me sick to my stomach. After going through the long battle with my sister, I feel very strongly about girls and how they feel about their body image.
Like every other disease you just have to take one day at a time. To this day my sister still gives thanks to my mom and me, and also to her friends who stuck by her side in her time of need.
They say you never understand what somebody has gone through until you walk a mile in their shoes, and I believe this to be true. Anorexua is a devastating disease and I will continue to take what I have personally learned in order to hopefully make a difference in someone else's life that has been affected by this sickness.