Disturbingly Skinny Mother of the Day: Rebecca Jones, a 26-year-old mother who suffers from anorexia, weighs less than her 7-year-old daughter, Maisy.
Jones weighs just 70 pounds, while her daughter weighs 79 pounds.
A medical secretary, Jones’ daily food intake consists of soup, toast, and energy drinks. This despite the fact that Doctors have repeatedly warned her that if she didn’t add more nutrients to her diet, she would die.
Jones is 8 inches taller than her daugher, but the two of them can fit into the same clothing. “Wearing the same clothes as Maisy gives me a sense of pride,” Jones said. “It’s wrong, but it makes me feel good. I don’t think I’m thin – I always see myself as bigger.”
Her eating disorder began at age 11, after her parents divorced. She says that at one point she weighed as much as 210 pounds, and that kids at school would often tease her.
At 13, she claims, “I pretty much stopped eating.” This, unsurprisingly, caused her to lose massive amounts of weight, and her friends were complimenting her on how thin she looked.
Within two years, Jones’ weight was down to 112 pounds, and she eventually stopped getting her period.
This led her to believe she was infertile, so she was rather shocked to find out at age 19 that she was 26 weeks pregnant.
Doctors tried to get her to eat chicken and take vitamins to ensure her unborn baby was receiving enough protein. Jones had become so unaccustomed to eating though, all her attempts to eat left her feeling ill. Maisy was born healthy, but very small, weighing just 5 lb 7oz.
After Jones eventually broke up with her boyfriend, Maisy’s father, she put herself on an all liquid diet, quickly dropping down to 70 pounds.
Despite her disorder, Jones does not deny Maisy food. Quite the contrary: She encourages her to eat cake and chocolate. Jones has admitted that her own daughter is worried about her health, sometimes trying to coax her mother into sharing cake with her.
“I’m terrified I won’t see Maisy grow up,” Jones admits. “I’d love to eat – I can think of nothing nicer than going out for lunch with Maisy, but I can’t.”
[The Daily Mail]
