Reality sets in today for us at mamaVISION.
Although we talk, support, argue, laugh and tease here on the blog….the truth we must always remember is we are discussing a deadly topic. Eating disorders take the lives of women every single day, but statistics don’t really hit home do they?
"10 Million Females in the United States Are Battling Eating Disorders."
If you are like me, you think, "Ok, 10 million…big number." and life goes on. We can’t even process this figure.
But today is different. We have lost 3, that’s three, of our own.
Three young, vibrant lives snuffed out by an disease that tortures the mind and soul, until the body simply surrenders.
Emily
Ellie
Sheri
Emily started posting here well over a year ago. Her mom Brooke was concerned about her, so she searched her computer to see what she was doing online and found mamaVISION.com. She bravely and responsibility reacted by reaching out to me and asking me what she should do. She was a mother desperate to help. A mother willing to do anything in her power to heal her beloved daughter.
But as we all know, as friends and family we can listen, we can love, we can stand by their side and help with therapy and treatment. But the sufferer then needs to do the work. The work is often too much to bare and when those feelings of fear, shame, and negativity creep in..they retreat to the habits they know will eventually take their life. Starving. Restricting. Binging. Purging.
Emily was 17 years old. She suffered a heart attack. The attack was not her first, the unfortunate veteran of an eating disorder. She survived in a coma, but eventually passed in peace.
Ellie and Sheri are two others being remembered on the open forum. I need you to post about these women, because I didn’t have the pleasure to know them. Please tell us their stories, and send me their pictures to post to the memorial if appropriate.
Stop today, and think about these three women. Take a few breaths, and think.
And please don’t naively believe for one moment this won’t be you if you don’t reach out for help. I would bet Emily, Ellie and Sheri never imagined they would be written about today.
Love always,
mamaV
Stephanie, the sister of Sheri, a lost member of this community, posted the message to help us all remember her.
Sheri was talented beyond belief, and full of compassion for others. She is yet another teenager who lost her life to anorexia.
The heart can not take this disease girls, attacks are the most common reason for death in my experience. Nearly every single young woman we have lost since starting this blog in 2006 died from heart failure. View Memorial.
One of my greatest beliefs in life is this; part of our personal legacy lives in the waves of friendship and kindness we sent out upon our passing. Sheri is now connecting people through this story, she is stopping people for a few moments to read her story, and she may inspire a struggling anorexic to eat today. This moment is part of her life purpose.
Love,
mamaV
XOXO
—–
Sheridanielle Bethaney Ring, nicknamed Sheri, was nineteen years old when her heart gave out on her. She had been doing well in inpatient therapy for anorexia, but her body was beyond repair.
She was a musician, a concert pianist studying towards her performance degree in University. She had beautiful, long red hair and blue eyes that always made you feel like she was listening, when you would talk to her. She was full of brilliant ideas, encouragement and love. She was a church pianist, a beautiful person with a heart for those who were hurting.
She never hesitated to reach out, she never let an opportunity to love someone go by.
In the period of a year, she lost her youngest sister, as well as her mother. Then, she lost her life. She is survived by an identical twin sister, as well as several other siblings, and three nephews. She has been gone for awhile now, but she has left pieces of herself in the fabric of others’ lives.
Sheri’s last words to me were "je t’aime", "I love you".
I am Sheri’s sister. Thank-you, MamaV, for remembering her.
-Stephanie