Kate Chilver Dead at 66 Pounds After 16-Year Battle With Anorexia
Kate Chilver struggled with anorexia, an eating disorder, for 16 years. She became so thin that her organs gave up on her: they died from a lack of blood supply.
Chilver developed anorexia symptoms since she was 12 years old and never recovered. Doctors told the Daily Mail that the Ealing, west London, native was underweight for nearly 20 years.
Following a post mortem on her body on Wednesday, doctors said Chilver, 31, had one of the worst cases of anorexia they have ever seen.
Chilver was so thin it caused the death of parts of her stomach and bowel, according to the Daily Mail, which noted that she weighed 4.7 stones, or 66 pounds. She died in July.
The post mortem also noted that Chilver's heart was less than half the size it should have been, according to the newspaper report.
I'd known Kate since her referral to our service in 2004, Dr. Frances Connan, a consultant psychologist who treated Chilver at Vincent Square Clinic in south west London, told the Daily Mail. She had onset anorexia from the age of about 12, her first admission just before she was 15. She had the most severe illness of patient I have ever come across. At times her BMI went down as low as 9. It's extremely rare to see a BMI of less than 10.
BMI is an acronym for Body Mass Index. And is an indicator of body fatness for most people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an adult who has a BMI that is below 18.5 is considered underweight. A person is within a normal weight status if the BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.
The Daily Mail report noted that during the 16-year battle, Chilver never responded to medication and wasn't able to take part in psychotherapy and tend to over exercise.
Before she died Chilver started feeling abdominal pain. Surgery wasn't an option for her before she died in an intensive care unit, according to the Daily Mail report.
You can see a picture of Chilver here.
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