Woman's heart could 'stop at any second' after anorexia spiralled in lockdown

17 December 2023 , 13:37

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Woman's heart could 'stop at any second' after anorexia spiralled in lockdown

A woman was left in hospital being fed by a tube after she over-exercised during the coronavirus pandemic.

Julie Levens, from Huyton, Liverpool, is now being treated for anorexia nervosa and is "lucky to be alive" after she was hospitalised when hitting her lowest weight. She said: "I had very disordered habits that led me to spiral out of control during the coronavirus lockdowns. When I ended up on bed rest in hospital being fed through tubes, one of the consultants told me that my heart could stop beating at any minute. I was so severely underweight and malnourished I wasn't even allowed to get up and walk to the toilet."

Julie was told by a consultant her heart could 'stop beating at any minute' (Julie Levens)

Julie's road to recovery was helped on by POW8R (Julie Levens)

Charity worker Julie has since been offered a "lifeline" in the form of a new exercising regiment after she realised a healthier way of keeping fit was needed, LiverpoolEcho reported. Julie said: "I came across POW8R [an app] during one of my daily lockdown walks and was drawn to how real and genuine the people were. I stopped one of my other subscriptions and immediately signed up." POW8R, set up by Holly Braithwaite, 36, and Callum Webb, 33, ended up offering "personalised" care for Julie. Although not professional experts in eating disorders, the team reached out to Julie to offer emotional support and guidance, helping kickstart her recovery.

She shared: "I didn't receive much help from the NHS services, to be honest. I felt as though I would get a telling off every time my weight was slightly low, like I was a naughty child. What I needed was more personalised and supportive care. Holly and Callum shifted my mindset towards food and fitness and built up my strength because I was extremely weak. They constantly checked in on me and offered support in any way they could. I could see they had total faith in me and knew I could get better - and now I have completely transformed my life."

Julie has gained two stone and feels stronger than ever. She added: "When I first started the workouts I was using 4kg kettlebells and my upper body was so weak I couldn't even lift them properly. Now I am using 16kg kettlebells and doing the live workouts up to four times a week. Holly helped me loads nutrition-wise. She took away the focus on weight and made it about becoming strong and healthy to fuel my workouts getting the right amount of vitamins and protein in."

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"Before, breakfast was the hardest meal of the day for me to eat. Now I enjoy all of my meals and particularly take pleasure in preparing my post-workout breakfast of Greek yoghurt, protein powder and berries to replenish my muscles and get stronger. They [Holly and Callum] genuinely saved my life. When I went into the hospital they didn't know how my heart was still beating. Without finding POW8R, it probably wouldn't be beating now."

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Ewan Gleadow