Weighing The Facts: eating disorder deaths

Professor Rosemary Pope, 49 years old, passed away this week. Pope, an anorexic weighing less than 5 stone (70 pounds) is reported to have eaten little more than coffee, soft cheese, and diet sweets, according to an inquest heard yesterday. She was renowned as an exceptional academic who was engrossed in her work, hiding her 30 year battle with anorexia from her colleagues. This year, as she struggled with the demands of her position as Pro Vice Chancellor of Bournemouth University, her body began to fail.

Her brother, Michael Pope, told the inquest of Rosemary's struggle with eating since she was a teenager. "We were fully aware she had an eating disorder but were very wary of broaching the subject in case it caused her distress", he said. He added that they never suspected her eating habits would result in her death.

This past January Professor Pope contracted a stomach virus. Though her colleagues spoke to her of their concerns about her weight loss she refused to see a doctor. Her body was too weak to fight the virus and she collapsed at her home where she was found dead March 21st. It is suspected that the strain of carrying groceries "may have caused her frail body to fail" the previous day.

Professor Pope, was 4’ 10” tall and suffered hypoglycemia which "probably caused her to fall into a coma and her heart to stop beating." Her heart was the size of a child's from having starved herself for so long, the inquest reported.

"Michael Pope told the inquest his sister took desperate measures to avoid eating. When she went to stay with him, she brought her own food and refused what he offered. At Christmas 2007, Professor Pope invited her two brothers and their children to her house, where she provided a 'feast" but she left the room while they ate."

She was said to have an "unusually vivacious and outgoing personality" with a "robust sense of humour."

Sources:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23479808-details/The%20anorexic%20professor%20who%20ate%20so%20little%20her%20heart%20was%20the%20size%20of%20a%20child's/article.do
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352264,00.html
picture:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23479808-details/The+anorexic+professor+who+ate+so+little+her+heart+was+the+size+of+a+child's/article.do

A youtube video by: StrawberryKField

MORTALITY RATES

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness
A study by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders reported that 5 – 10% of anorexics die within 10 years after contracting the disease; 18-20% of anorexics will be dead after 20 years and only 30 – 40% ever fully recover
The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 – 24 years old.
20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems

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