Because I am passionate about getting the message out there...

... I am doing a SPECIAL OFFER Sunday 1st December. For 24 hours only, ALL Kindle versions of my eating disorder books will be just 99p / 99c each. (A great way to get hold of my 2011 and 2012 blog posts on Kindle!) You can also borrow all books for FREE if you're a member of Amazon Prime. Visit my Amazon page to see a list of my books.

What every parent dreads... but what a mother!

Losing your beautiful child to an eating disorder is every parent's worst nightmare when battling with this horrible illness. It is something that is constantly at the back of our mind as we watch our child disappear and transform in front of our eyes, physically, mentally and emotionally. And, unlike virtually any other potentially fatal illness, eating disorders - and especially anorexia as it advances and begins to consume the young person from within and take hold of their minds - has the patient fighting against treatment and support. It's not that they don't want to get better, it's just that they can't without a heck of a lot of highly skilled professional help. This is made exponentially worse once a young person reaches the age of 18 and is legally permitted to choose whether or not they receive and / or engage with treatment. If, indeed, that treatment is any good.

Update, plus the book I'm about to read

Not much has happened on the university front this week. This is because Ben has been off sick with some kind of fluey bug. Thankfully he has kept eating, and has also put on weight which is excellent news. So, with any luck, it's back to uni next week and, also with any luck, back to the attempt to build up a new network of friends. Meanwhile, he is well enough to cook dinner for tonight and is doing a stew with dumplings, the kind of meal I could never imagine him eating in the Bad Old Days of his eating disorder.

Read a transcript of my talk

You can read a transcript of my talk from Friday here: http://bevmattocks.co.uk/anorexia_talk.html

Driven by love, not red-tape

I have spent the last couple of days mixing with some of the most amazing, loving, caring, passionate and selfless people I have ever met. Of course I've met some of them before (for example at the 2-day Nottingham FEAST conference in November last year), and I already 'knew' many of them from the online community of people that are passionate about making a difference in the world of eating disorders: parents, former sufferers and professionals. And, although eating disorders is such a massive topic that a one-day conference, like the National Carers Conference in Eating Disorders I attended yesterday at the Institute of Psychiatry, run by Professor Janet Treasure, Gill Todd and the Maudsley & Kings College London, can't ever hope to do more than chip away at a huge iceberg, it did a bloody good job! But what stood out for me most, on reflection, is this...

On the whole the Daily Mirror article was accurate...

So how much of my published interview with the Daily Mirror this week were my words and how much were the Editor's words, after the (very nice) journalist agreed the final version with me, but did warn me that the Editor would give the final go-ahead before publication and, sorry but no I couldn't see the post-edited version... (Note, our bit features further down the article.)

Walking unaided... hopefully...

As a result of my 'tough talking' the other night, Ben made an appointment to see Rob which is schedule for this morning. He is also seeing the university GP, hopefully for some meds and other solutions to help with the depression. Also, he went back to Sheffield yesterday, seemingly OK, and stayed there overnight. So watch this space for news...