My beautiful girl died at 21 after a seven-year battle with anorexia caused by her ‘puppy fat’ obsession
Sophie Bridges developed anorexia when she was just 13 in a bid to get rid of her 'puppy fat'
A heartbroken mum has told how her daughter has died aged 21 after battling anorexia for seven years, triggered by her desire to get rid of teenage “puppy fat”.
Grammar school girl Sophie Bridges died last month of suspected heart failure which her mum, Sharon Bridges, 47, believes was the result of the eating disorder she had suffered since her early teens.
Heartbreakingly, Sharon yesterday received a “recovery package” in the post addressed to Sophie. “It contained things like a handcream, stress ball and other helpful tools, she explained. "She must have been trying to get better by herself."
Sharon, from County Down, Northern Ireland, told how her daughter’s still body was found in bed by her husband Raymond, 50, on March 17 this year.
The night before she had said goodnight as usual, before heading to bed.
“When he saw Sophie, he just knew,” she said. “He called to me and she was lying there, very still..
“Sadly it was not as much a surprise as it might have been. The mortality rate for anorexia is still very high.”
Sharon told how Sophie, weighing 11 stone and measuring 5ft 3ins, was 13 when she first became interested in diet and exercise.
“She wasn't fat though, it was just a little bit of puppy fat,” recalled Sharon, of County Down, Northern Ireland.. “She was still developing, she was only a teenager.
“But she started going to the gym lots and exercising all the time.
“She cut back on eating… I was so worried.”
Over the next six months her weight rapidly decreased, hitting seven stone.
Horrified by her plummeting size and the amount she was exercising, Sharon took her to the GP, but she continued to not eat. “She was very small,” her mum said. “She was barely eating.”
And, tragically, her illness continued over the next few years until, in January 2017, she was admitted into a mental health inpatient unit.
For eight months she remained there until she was released back to her parents’ home.
But, despite their support, Sophie – who aspired to be a nurse – continued to grow smaller.
Her mum was not sure how much she weighed when she passed away. “For me anorexia isn’t just about weight,” she explained. “It is also about mind set. It is an illness like any other illness.”
Signs and symptoms of anorexia
- Have an unusally low body mass index
- missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening
- believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight
- taking medication to reduce your hunger (appetite suppressants)
- your periods stopping (in women who have not reached menopause) or not starting (in younger women and girls)
- physical problems, such as feeling lightheaded, hair loss or dry skin
Last Christmas she was at home with her sister, Hannah, 27, and brothers, Sam, 24, and Ethan, 20.
But on March 17, she died. “I think it was her eating disorder which killed her,” her mum said. “She was feisty and intelligent.
“She was sarcastic and fun.
"But she was also battling something huge."
More on anorexia
She continued:“I said goodnight to her, but I didn’t get to say good morning.
“Now I want other parents to know about the dangers of eating disorders – and to target them early so the same thing doesn't happen to them as it does it Sophie.”
An anorexic teen's emotional post about how an obsession with healthy eating saw her end up in hospital, touched people.
And an teenager said the saved him from his eating disorder.