Young patient’s letter thanks Oakville hospital program for ‘changing my life’
Published February 7, 2022 at 3:44 pm
Those fighting an eating disorder in the Outpatient Eating Disorders Program at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH), you’re not alone.
That was the message Laura (no last name provided), a patient who enrolled in the program, wanted to get across in a letter thanking Halton Healthcare for all they have done for her.
“I want to thank the wonderful team in the program for everything they have done for me and my family, you have truly changed my life and I cannot be more thankful,” Laura wrote in the letter.
Laura, who was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa in 2021, not only wanted a way to tell her story, but to find a way to offer words of encouragement to anyone who may be living with an eating disorder.
“If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, talk to someone you can trust because trust me, it is more than just a number on a silly scale or how your thigh gap is,” Laura wrote. “You are worthy of so much more than this.
“Eating disorders take your life away from you, so try and fight it before it’s too late. Because your life is worth so much more than that.”
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Like many, Laura found living through a pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns stressful. She found the stress she went through in 2021 made her not want to eat.
After a few months, her weight dropped below 100 pounds. She knew for a five-foot-seven tall female this wasn’t normal.
“When I started seeing the numbers on the scale going down, I found a sense of control in this hectic world that we were living in,” wrote Laura, who says she always struggled with body dysmorphia from a young age.
“I started seeing my thighs getting skinnier and my clothes getting bigger which made me want to keep going.”
After several appointments with her doctor, she was sent to the hospital at the beginning of Nov. 2021 where they diagnosed her with Anorexia Nervosa.
There Laura was enrolled in the Outpatient Eating Disorders Program
“It has genuinely changed my life,” she wrote. “They showed me that recovery is worth every single step of the way. At first I was scared, but I knew I had to do it.
“I have never made a better decision in my life. And I am also now at a healthy weight.”
Laura says this is way more than just a number on the scale.
“It gives you your whole life back, the urge to want to go out and spend time with your friends,” she wrote. “Your personality, not being cold all the time, your hair not constantly falling out, not feeling dizzy when getting up and just having energy to do everyday things.
“But the most important thing, to enjoy food in the way that you are supposed to and losing the fear of it.”
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