Rachael is dying from anorexia nervosa. She needs our help.

Warning: This article is about anorexia nervosa and video contained in it may be upsetting or triggering for some sufferers.

Update:

Rachael Farrokh, whose YouTube plea for help went viral this month (scroll down for video), has raised enough money to begin treatment for her anorexia nervosa at a specialised clinic.

The Californian woman released a video explaining how she’d been ill with the eating disorder for more than 10 years, while her husband Rod Edmondson created a GoFundMe page. Farrokh told CNN on Friday that she can now begin treatement after that GoFundMe page raised about $140,000 in just over three weeks.

The funds will pay for treatment at Farrokh’s San Clemente home, CNN reports;  then when she builds up her strength by increasing her calorie intake, Farrokh will hopefully move to the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at the Denver Health Medical Center for treatment in Colorado.

Previously, Mamamia wrote:

At age 27, Rachel Farrokh was a clever, aspiring actress.

“She is a captivating, kind and amazing woman that has always put others before herself,” her husband Rod Edmondson says of the woman he’s loved for more than a decade.

Speaking to ABC News in the US, Mr Edmondson also describes his wife as a “a perfectionist” and an academic overachiever. But since graduating as valedictorian with honours, Rachael fell ill with anorexia nervosa.

Ten years into that battle, she’s dying.

Today, Farrokh spends her days and nights in a hospital bed inside her home, and needs assistance with basic tasks like getting dressed.

Farrokh has also suffered from heart, liver and kidney failure, osteoporosis, blood clots and edema, according to a GoFundMe page set up by Mr Edmondson.

She’s so thin you can clearly see the outline of her bones through her skin.

Mr Edmondson, 41, says he’s had to quit his job to care for his wife at their home in San Clemente, California full-time.

“This disease comes with an incredible amount of pain, emotionally, physically and mentally but it is often oversimplified. People think it’s just about being skinny and that they just need to eat something and it will be all better,” he says.

“The reality is people are hurting so much that they’re trying to make themselves disappear, and if we ignore it we let them. I don’t want this fate for my wife.”

Rachael has spent time in several different treatment facilities, but her condition is so severe that only one hospital in the country is able to accept her now.

“Hospitals won’t admit her because she is a liability for them. She doesn’t meet their minimum weight requirement and they don’t have the knowledge or capabilities to save her,” Mr Edmondson says.

“There is only one hospital in the country that specializes in re-feeding patients at such a low body weight and it’s my mission to get her there. If she receives too many calories her metabolism will kick up and she will lose even more weight.”

“Her days are limited if we don’t take action immediately.”

“Time is of the essence and I don’t want to lose the most important person in my life.”

In the below video, Farrokh appeals directly for help:

Visit the couple’s GoFundMe page here. 

For help and support for eating disorders, contact the Butterfly Foundation‘s National Support line and online service on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or at support@thebutterflyfoundation.org.au

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