My mother went to her best friend's mother's funeral earlier today. Apparantly it was a lovely service.
However, she was shocked to see my old best friend (mother's friend's daughter)there.
It wasn't unusual to be there, naturally.
But it was horrific to hear my mother relay everything about her to me...
She has been battling with anorexia and bulemia since 6th form (roughly 4 years ago), which has changed her totally.
For a girl that was so full of energy for life, she is now unrecognisable.
I saw her back in June, at my event, and she looked terrible. Far too skinny (as she's big-boned anyway), her legs the size of my arms, no colour in her face... It wasnt nice to see, although it was nice to catch up (kind of).
Since then, things have got so bad that she has had to drop out of University, and she will no longer be able to pursue her lifelong dreams of being a journalist.
The people she shared a house with (some of whom I know) asked her to leave around 2 weeks ago, as they couldn't cope any longer.
Mum says that at the funeral, she looked like an old woman, hunched over the crutches that aid her to walk. Her hair is thin, and she has lost it from most of the top of her head. She just sat there and shook because she is so weak.
A cry for attention from her piers has spiralled so out of control, and I'm afraid she is beyond all help. She has no real will to help herself, and that is making it impossible for anyone else to do anything. We were hoping that her grandmother's death may get her to wake up a bit, especially when she saw the state of her mother (they both found her after she had passed). If she can't snap out of it, we are so helpless to be able to do a thing. We have to sit back and watch.
We hope and pray for her, but I am so scared - it isn't enough.
