How Did You Find F.E.A.S.T.?

Out fund drive is winding down and will end at the close of the year.  Thank you all who have so generously given!  For those of you still thinking about it, now it the time as over the next two weeks you donation can be tripled!!!

F.E.A.S.T. recently received a $5000 matching gift (if we get $5000 in donations between now and the end of the year it will be matched) AND .... one very generous donor has now stepped forward and pledged an additional  $5,000 for when we reach the target for the first $5,000 matching gift. That means that as soon as we raise $5,000 (see conditions below), we will get an additional $10,000!

There are three kinds of donations that will trigger this match:

 

1.One-time donations of $100 and up,

2. Monthly Recurring Pledges of $10 and up, and

3. Annual Recurring Pledges or $50 and up.

One of the items your donations will support is the online parent to parent network Around the Dinner Table (ATDT).  On ATDT families empower other families with hope to believe they can care give through to recovery.  No small feat!  It is a mountain to climb and guides sure do help.

This from parents:

Our doc gave us a few websites -- ATDT was one of them.  Thank goodness!!! I don't know what I would have done without you all.

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My daughter was ten when hospitalized for a month for anorexia. I went to a parent support group where the leader stood up and said " We cannot make them eat. They have to want to get better." I stood up and said " Like hell I can't". I was so very angry and lost. I locked eyes with another mom and just knew that we had the same feelings.

She approached me afterwards and handed me a tiny piece of paper with the FEAST website on it. She said " I think this site will change our lives." A few days later after many tense talks with psychiatrists, dieticians etc- we took her out AMA to feed at home. 4 years and now 65 pounds later, my daughter is 14 and in complete remission. FEAST was key to my empowerment. I am so grateful. 

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I posted on another website and asked them for advice about my daughter. They sent me here.  Thank heavens for that!!
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I found FEAST via Google when D was hospitalised yet again for medical instability. She had spent 7 of the previous 8 weeks in hospital refusing to eat at all when discharged. My search phrase "How to get an anorexic to eat" and up ATDT popped. I joined up straight away.

I also share it with all who are involved with ED's including professionals. 
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I was looking around on the internet for any stories of hope I could possibly grasp onto and not finding any.  I stumbled across the book "Anorexia Boy" and the author mentioned the site and the forum there.  Six months of FBT couldn't even come close to the help I found on this forum and we gave up therapy and never looked back.  If I ever meet anyone going through this, I will definitely recommend they come here.  
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I have never felt as afraid and as overwhelmed as I did when my d just stopped eating and drinking. I had no idea where to start and even less of an idea of what anorexia was. Just before she ended up in hospital, I cried down the phone to an old friend that had gone through the same. I was hiding in another part of the house so that my d could not hear me talk! And in this hiding place, I whispered down the phone that I was terrified and as lonely as I had ever been in my life. They had said feed her but I had no idea how! And then my friend said go onto FEAST. As soon as I logged onto the site I felt an enormous sense of relief. And then slowly, painfully you all taught me how to feed her. This site saved her life. I don't say that lightly, I truly believe it. thank you <3

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Desperately follow chains of links for 4 or 5 hours, until I finally came across FEAST.  I had never had the least desire to investigate a forum, parent support group or anything, but could see as soon as I arrived that there were both evidence and compassion here.  This place saved my daughter's life.  No doubts. 
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Four years ago an uninvited and unwanted stranger took a seat at our table and tried to take our 19 year old daughter. She had been diagnosed with RAN and I had never been as terrified in my life. By some wonderful coincidence, her Russian tutor at University had experience of Feast and introduced me to ATDT. Overnight, it changed everything. I read everything on the site I could. For the first time I felt as if I could start to take some control of the situation, after being told by the health professionals that I needed to take a back seat, and our girl needed to "choose to get well".

Feast give me the most up to date information and it empowered me to be strong and take action.

We began re-feeding. The worst 8 months of my life followed, but by the end of the year, our daughter was weight restored and we began to believe she may make a full recovery.  Four years on, she is happy, healthy and leading a full life. 

As a family we have been changed by the experience. We feel less secure and more vulnerable having been through anorexia with our girl. But, we are thrilled every day by how our daughter's life has changed and how well she is. And every day, I give thanks for FEAST and the work it does. It was truly a life saver. I know I could not have coped without it.

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So, let's pay it forward and help light the path for others.....'tis the Season!