We Care for Krysta

As some of you may know, our friend Krysta is struggling with an eating disorder.  

This is not the oversimplified version you may have heard of in the media; this is, in every sense, life threatening - and we are close to losing our friend forever. 

She is very ill and her body is shutting down - her doctor has predicted that if she continues as she is, she likely has only months left to live. For more info on why this is so and any questions you may have about anorexia please read here


Because of this, Krysta can no longer work and is quickly running out of funds to live, let alone put herself in a treatment centre.

She is a vivacious, generous, empathetic woman who is a palliative care nurse; her career has been to take care of others when it is most difficult!  Anyone who has experienced her would say how unequivocally caring and selfless she is.  Please support her in getting treatment that can save her life, and she can go back to being a force of goodness in this world.

Krysta has sought various treatments in BC and the US and exhausted what is available to her that is publicly funded.  She has been hospitalized in the past and this current relapse proves that form of treatment was ineffective for her.  With much careful consideration and research, she has found a treatment centre that she believes would work for her and has proven successful for others in her circumstances, including people she knows.

Anorexia nervosa is not at all about vanity, "being thin", body image and an addiction to exercise.  It is a mental illness that is much more complicated.  As a result of anorexia nervosa’s cycle of self-starvation, the body is denied the essential nutrients it needs to function normally.  Thus, the body is forced to slow down all of its processes to conserve energy.

The negative impact of anorexia can be as devastating as any other addiction or disease. Anorexia is a highly destructive disorder that harms a person’s body, mind and spirit. Anorexia also has the highest death rate of any psychiatric disorder.

A review of nearly fifty years of research confirms that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder (Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales, & Nielsen, 2011).

AN has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness – it is estimated that 10% of individuals with AN will die within 10 years of the onset of the disorder.
Sullivan, P. (2002). Course and outcome of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In Fairburn, C. G. & Brownell, K. D. (Eds.). Eating Disorders and Obesity (pp. 226-232). New York, New York: Guilford.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 152 (7), July 1995, p. 1073-1074, Sullivan, Patrick F.