A young Hampshire woman whose body was ravaged by anorexia nervosa has beaten the illness and is planning her future. Debbie Hart tells Kate Thompson how she overcame the eating disorder...

DESPERATELY ill and weighing about six stone, Debbie Hart knew she had to do something about the anorexia that threatened to ruin her life.

Her family and friends were worried about her - but the illness had taken such a hold that Debbie could no longer see the damage being wrought by eating just a couple of slices of toast a day.

Debbie's mother Bernadette, 43, could only watch as Debbie wasted away over four years from the age of 14. It was tough on all the family - Bernadette from Hedley Close, Fawley, was a single mother-of- five, working hard to care for all her children.

"We had many dark moments in those four years. I am a single mother with four other children and it was very difficult for them to cope with her moods and all the attention she needed.

"It is extremely hard living with an anorexic - both mentally and physically - but with the right help and support, they can hopefully come out of the tunnel and lead a more normal life," she said.

Debbie is now 21. She said it was only when she was admitted to hospital that she first realised her eating was out of control.

Throughout her treatment over four years, she had difficulty finding the right person to talk to about her problems. There were plenty of nurses, counsellors and psychologists but she never really connected with any of them.

It wasn't until she was 18 and referred to the Brookvale adolescent unit in Totton that a change came about. "I met up with Kevin Dudman, a mental health nurse, and he was someone I could talk to and I got on really well with him," said Debbie.

With his support and the love of her mum, Debbie was able to focus on getting better and found the strength to turn her life around.

"I wanted to get better for my mum - I was always thinking about her and I hated making her worry about me," she said.

Debbie had always wanted to be a primary school teacher but that dream had seemed an impossibility while she was still gripped by anorexia.

As she began to turn her life around, she was able to enrol at Totton College for a childcare course, and hard work and determination led to her going to King Alfred's College in Winchester, where she is in the second year of a teaching degree course.

"Coming to university has been a real life-changing thing for me and I am a lot more confident in myself.

"I still don't really like my body but I have learned to accept it. If I'm honest, when I read stories about people with anorexia there's still a small part of me that's a bit jealous that I don't have it any more.

"It has been almost five years since I was in hospital and there is no way I would let myself get to that stage again.