ED Recovery Story by Emma Warford

Hi there, my name is Emma Warford and I am a seventeen-year-old from Denver, Colorado who is currently recovering from anorexia nervosa. My eating disorder started in March 2020, amidst the pandemic and not having anything to do. At this time, I started calorically monitoring my food intake, which was fine for a while not having any of the many obligations of normal life. However, when school started up in the fall, I began using my eating disorder as a coping mechanism from all the stressors of my teenage life: for example, working a part-time job, volunteering, school, and sports. In January 2021, I went to my pediatrician’s office and they noticed I had become severely underweight, so they decided to place me in outpatient treatment. I saw a therapist and dietitian once weekly, but it was clearly not enough support for me. So my treatment team decided to put me on the waitlists for residential care. The issue was, the waiting lists were six months long. I held on for as long as I could, but on May 6, 2021, I was admitted into Children’s Hospital due to a number of medical complications of anorexia. The notion that led to my admission was actually no coincidence whatsoever as it was finals week and the stress had caused me to reach the lowest point of my journey. I was discharged from Children’s to be transferred to residential treatment only to have to be readmitted as I was too sick for any ED program. Then on June 23, 2021, I was transferred to Bellevue, Washington for residential care at the Eating Recovery Center. I had to travel halfway across the country because the CO waiting list was longer than out of state. I stayed in WA for four months I believe. Then I came home in October, started school (late), and have been working hard ever since. In February of this year, I became a patient ambassador for Children’s CO where I have been using my story to advocate for mental health awareness and preventative care for adolescents. I also started up a recovery account on TikTok and Instagram and have met a number of people through it. Also, this summer I went and talked to Congress press through 3 mental health bills! What I’m really looking to do now is use my story to create systemic change in how we approach and see mental health.

Instagram: @ems_foodmems