Sometimes your best friend becomes your worst enemy.
Food began as Bri’s friend. It extended its welcoming embrace, sheltering her from all of her troubles. It was there for her after she was sexually abused by her father. It was there for her while she watched her mother battle with deep depression. It was there for her until the day that she realized she weighed the same amount as her mother. She was only 12 years old.
Her friend had turned on her and she repaid it in kind. She hated the size of her body, and she focused this hatred on food. She began starving herself and avoiding food while torturing herself by looking through menus and recipes. In one year she lost 78 pounds. This change didn’t come without a price, though, as her hair began to thin and she couldn’t keep herself warm. It even stole her social life from her.
“I became so obsessed with losing the weight that I would decline offers to go anywhere with anyone out of fear of the food. My life revolved around nothing but food and the amount of space that my body took up.”
Her friend-turned-enemy had taken everything from her. Bri decided that she needed a new friend.
She came to HopeSparks at the age of 16 and began working with Lisa. Lisa immediately gained Bri’s trust when she disclosed her own struggles with an eating disorder in their first session.
Bri was no longer alone in this fight.
“Over weeks and months, my life changed. Lisa taught me that it’s not me against myself, it’s us against the eating disorder. It has always felt like we are a team on a mission to save my life.”
Bri knows that it’s her choice to stay on the road to recovery. She also knows that as long as she chooses that road, the HopeSparks Eating Recovery Team will walk right beside her.
She’s determined to fight and to not let her past define who she is now. With new friends by her side, Bri knows it will be much easier to make the right choice.
“I choose to recover from my eating disorder. I choose recovery every single day.”