I Walk for my family and the millions of families who have been experienced the devastation of a loved one with an eating disorder.
I Walk for the phone calls I receive every day from mothers crying that their child is very sick and no one will listen.
I Walk for the families that have loved ones lying in hospitals and can’t convince insurance companies to cover treatment.
I Walk for those that have lost and those who still suffer.
Most of all I Walk to start the conversation that eating disorders are not a choice. They are a brain-based biological illnesses that invade your life without invitation. I walk to EDucate and save lives.
I Walk because we have to START TALKING.
Not One More
Not one more healthcare professional failing to be trained on how to recognize, diagnose, and treat eating disorders.
Not one more insurance company denying life-saving treatment to outcome.
Not one more family feeling they caused their loved ones eating disorder.
Not one more four-year-old being diagnosed with anorexia.
Not one more individual experiencing an eating disorder and seeking treatment for decades but told repeatedly that they are not sick enough or aren’t worthy.
Not one more male being dismissed and can’t receive treatment because “males don’t get eating disorders.”
Not one more person experiencing stigma, shame, and feeling like they were a mistake, unworthy, or unloved.
Not one more life being lost to an illness that is treatable, due to failure of diagnosis, failure of insurance coverage, failure to intervene, and failure to receive life-saving treatment to outcome.
Not one more person in our society believing that eating disorders are a choice and that individuals experiencing an eating disorder choose to risk their health, their ability to bear children, and their life.
NOT ONE MORE!
Cherie Monarch sits on the board for the National Alliance for Eating Disorders and is the Chair of the Alliance’s Family Action Committee for Eating Disorders: Instilling Truths (FACEIT). She is very active in the eating disorder community and has been involved in many national advocacy events (most recently overseeing the delivery of more than 1,000 medical education packets to healthcare providers across the U.S. and Canada). She works diligently to support families on this journey with their loved ones.