In January of 1999, a ten year old girl named Kelsey asked her parents if she could go to .
Kelsey wasn't very over weight, but her parents decided if that would make her feel better about herself, then why not? What her parents didn't know was that this was the first step towards Anorexia Nervosa. After the camp, she came home and immediately started dieting and exercising. Her parents approved, thinking that it wouldn't do her any harm to lose a couple pounds. Slowly she began cutting whole food groups from her diet. Soon, she stopped eating with her parents, saying she already ate or just wasn't hungry.
People began commenting on her weight. Kelsey loved the attention. Her parents were beginning to suspect her unhealthy eating patterns. She was indeed far too thin. Her mother took her to the doctor, and he talked to her about the proper nutrition she needed. Kelsey agreed to try to eat healthier. Barbara (Kelsey's mother) really thought that this would work for Kelsey. However, the weight continued to "melt" off. She was cold all the time. Kelsey seemed to be weighing herself obsessively, so her parents took away her scale away from her. Her parents would not let her exercise, unless she ate something first. In the beginning of June 1999, Barbara called Kelsey's weight loss camp and told them of Kelsey's situation and that she no longer needed to lose weight. The camp reassured her that they dealt with all kinds of kids, with all different kinds of eating disorders. The camp convinced Barbara that Kelsey would be helped at camp that summer. At the camp Kelsey would fight her doctors about eating. She screamed at them, and then began to scream at her parents too. Counselors came to see Kelsey daily to help her. Kelsey was then put in the ICU for about two weeks, then in the regular pediatrics unit for a few more weeks. Kelsey was given a feeding tube to help. She was released from the hospital in mid-September.
