April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
FIRST IN AREA
AHN student sponsors eating disorders walk
Natalie Posner, 17, worked for almost a year with a committee of adults and national NEDA representatives to plan every aspect of the walk. She hopes it will contribute money to what she calls under-funded national research, treatment and awareness efforts - and educate the local community.
Eating disorders are "still kind of a taboo illness," she told The Evangelist. "Thirty million people in our country will have an eating disorder in their life. It's not something to be taken lightly."
A few years ago, Natalie was struggling with anorexia. It began with her eating more fruits and vegetables, and then "instead of eating healthy, it started to become eating less and less," she recalled. She lost a "significant amount of weight" and went into two different treatment programs - one at a Princeton, N.J., hospital for three months; another at a Rochester residential program for two months.
"Treatment is what you put into it," she remarked. "The first time, I wasn't dedicated to recovery."
Her parents' insurance helped pay for her treatment, but that's not always the case for people with eating disorders: "I know people who are paying, out of pocket, thousands of dollars a day," she said. "Insurance companies don't understand that it's not just a physical process. They aren't letting people stay [in treatment] long enough."
Natalie said eating disorders can be compared to addictions: She used to chase the feeling she got from weight loss like it was a high.
"I was certainly delusional," she said. "I thought being a lower weight made me a happier person."
Instead, it led to fainting, heart arrhythmias, low body temperature and low blood pressure, among other complications. Natalie said she's thankful she doesn't have recurring health issues now that she's in recovery.
The teen cringes when people use "anorexia" and "bulimia" as punchlines to jokes about people who look thin. "You wouldn't go around joking about cancer," she said, calling eating disorders "the most life-threatening mental disorders."
It's also a myth that eating disorders only affect women, and that a sufferer can "just eat something" to get better: "It's really not that simple," Natalie said.
Natalie was in and out of public school and private tutoring during treatment. She came to AHN during her sophomore year.
"They've been really great," she said. "It's so much smaller and nurturing. The response I've gotten has been supportive and loving. People have appreciated me telling my story and actually going out to do something about it."
AHN students and staff will attend the walk; a counselor who used to work at Holy Names joined the planning committee. Natalie has spoken at club meetings and had a table at health fairs at AHN. She has also spoken, along with medical professionals, at other area schools.
At the walk there will also be food, music, face-painting, yoga sessions, a hair extension station, poster-making tables, resource tables and raffles. The planning committee secured many in-kind donations; a week before the walk, about 130 people had registered and almost $11,000 had already been raised - more than Natalie was expecting.
Natalie wants to study biochemistry or neuroscience in the hopes of "giving back" by becoming a doctor. She's a member of AHN's MasterMinds, Junior Ladies of Charity and Students Against Destructive Decisions.
Always behind the scenes for charitable efforts until now, "I never realized how much went into planning an event," she said. "It's been a learning process."
Natalie, who was raised Catholic and Jewish, attends St. Kateri Tekakwitha parish in Schenectady. She said faith has given her "compassion for the people around us and love for the common good."
She received that compassion from others during her recovery. "I felt so much support from the people around me, whether I knew them or not," she said. "I want other people to get support - to reach out to the community and let them know they're not alone."[[In-content Ad]]
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