Our daughter Freya was diagnosed with anorexia in May 2017 when she was 12 years old.

It has been a long and harrowing journey but finally, thanks to the Intensive Treatment Programme (ITP), run by the Maudsley Hospital in London, for adolescents with eating disorders, she is finally living life again.

It is currently the only programme of its kind in the UK and can help around 50 young people a year.  Anorexia has the biggest mortality rate of all mental health disorders and research suggest that the longer someone is unwell without effective treatment the poorer the outcome.

We want to raise as much money as we can to support the programme that undoubtedly "saved" Freya.

Below is an extract from the letter that freya wrote to others at the Maudsley following her discharge:

"I really struggled to find the right words to say in this letter, honestly I don't know where to start.  I want it to mean something.  I want my words to help you reading this in some way, to give you hope that there is a better life outside of anorexia (though it will scream and tell you otherwise, I promise you things do get better but only if you give recovery everything and I mean everything!).

My anorexia recovery has been a long and bumpy journey but I am happy to say that for the first time in 5 years I finally feel free.  I owe my new life to ITP, it helped me out of the darkest place I have ever been.  I was so alone and absolutely terrified of being fat and disgusting.  These feelings were exacerbated but the pandemic where I spent days locked away in my bedroom, isolating myself from my friends and constantly arguing with my family.

Real recovery is scary but is the best feeling in the world.  Having so much freedom after being controlled by anorexia for so long is like nothing I have ever felt before.  Life feels limitless; I no longer have to worry about constantly checking my appearance, how many calories are in food and whether I have excised enough to allow myself to eat.

I am happy in myself for the first time since I can remember and I believe that you CAN get to this place too.  Believe in yourself no matter how hopeless recovery may seem, keep pushing because I promise, life without anorexia is worth it!  The only way to know if there is a better life at the bottom of a cliff is to jump as otherwise you will never know what wonders could be waiting for you at the bottom.

I just want to say thank you yo everyone at ITP who helped me, encouraged me and supported me through my recovery, especially my psychologist for always pushing me to keep going. Even when I sat in the room by the entrance balling my eyes out to you both saying that life would never get better and I would be alone for the rest of my life.

Thank you for believing in me and for teaching me how to believe in myself.

I believe whoever may be reading this has the same strength I did to beat this.  Just keep going and hopefully you will join me on the other side.  With love Freya X"