#FEDUP - Project 8.5k for Eating Disorders

Eating disorders and disordered eating. A serious health issue that effects so many women and men.

The name is Meg, and I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa over seven years ago.

Anorexia is the deadliest of all psychiatric illnesses, and not to be overly dramatic; but it almost killed me. Walking left me physically exhausted. Food was infatuating and terrifying at the same time. Isolation was my best friend. And my mind became a mental battle-ground for inescapable thoughts and feelings that left me wishing I was dead.

I had hit an all-time low – and needed serious help.

The South Island Eating Disorder Service came to my rescue, and I was admitted inpatient on more than one occasion – and each time, they saved my life.

I was lucky. Lucky to receive the much-needed help and care. Lucky to be kept alive. Lucky to still be here.

Not everyone is so lucky.

C-Ward, the inpatient facility in Christchurch, located at Princess Margaret Hospital, is the only specialised inpatient treatment centre for those 1 million of us that live in the South Island. For this population, there are 8.5 beds available at any one time for those with Eating Disorders to receive the intensive care desparately needed.

That equates to one bed per 122,117 people.

I’ll let that sink in.

As we all know a little too well – the funding for mental health care is severely lacking, and while the inpatient facility offers a place for specialist care, it can lack a few comforts and creative resources to pass the time that can prove incredibly beneficial to someone’s recovery.

So, I have been doing something about it. For the past two years I have been donating some goods to the service, the patient, and the staff at C-Ward.

This year, I’m hoping you will get behind the cause.

In late November - I will be running 8.5k to fundraise for the 8.5 eating disorder inpatient beds.

If you know me, I was not one to run, and in the depths of my illness walking was hard enough. But I am not in a place in my recovery, mentally and physically, where I am ready to take on this challenge.

I want to make this as special and as powerful as possible too. So if you donate, please leave a comment of the person you have donated for. On the day I will be wearing every single one of those names proudly, running on behalf of all eating disorder sufferers, parents of sufferers, businesses supporting eating disorder awareness, and those we may have lost.

Any and all funds raised will go toward my donation to C-Ward.

Aren’t you #FEDUP? I sure as hell am.

For more about me, follow me over at @rawingmeg on Instagram, or at my blog for more insight behind the lady doing the running.