Anna Anorexia
Anna Selina Westin was born on November 27, 1978, and died on February 17, 2000 as a direct result of anorexia. Anna lived in Chaska Minnesota most of her life and after suffering with anorexia for five years she committed suicide at the age of 21. Anna graduated from high school in 1997 and was a student in the University of Oregon when she died. She loved life and had musical talent as well as her love for photography, hiking, backpacking, reading, writing, fishing, travel, and had a deep love for her family and friends. She did volunteer work and had a special way of making those around her feel important and special. Anna fought hard to overcome the disease but gave out in the end. There is now n Anna Westin Foundation in Chaska, Minnesota. The family hopes Anna’s story will help others so they do not fall into the same trap that Anna did. It is a trap that so often leads to death because, in many cases, the disease is not diagnosed until the damage to the body is already done.
Anorexia is an eating disorder that can control your body instead of you controlling it. It can cause severe damage to every organ in the body if it is not stopped soon enough. There is so much publicity about diets and being thin the public feels that we should all be thin. Anorexia is a disease has taken over many lives and most of them are young. The most anorexic cases are between 10 and 20 years old with the average being 17. There are some younger cases diagnosed but they are rare. There are also some over 20 who have been diagnosed with anorexia. Many teens and tweens feel that they need to diet because they feel so bad about themselves that they feel they need to lose weight in order to fit in. The key to fighting anorexia is to be able to diagnose and treat it before it has destroyed major organs of the body. Some of the damage is irreparable so it is important to catch the disease before it has progressed that far. Many times the disease does not get diagnosed in time because the victim tries to hide their weight loss until they begin to have health problems and can not hide it any longer. Some may think that anorexia only occurs in females but there are also males who become anorexic. It is reported that one in six anorexic cases are male. Another report states that there are over 8 million cases of people with eating disorders and I million of them are men. The other 7 thousand are women.
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