A haunting dispatch from inside the hospital that saves children from starving themselves to death... before they've even reached their teens
Slumped semi-conscious on the sofa, Megan Archer summoned up what little strength she had left and fixed the paramedic attempting to hand her a vital glucose tablet with a determined gaze. ‘How many calories does it have in it?’ she said.
一篇來自醫(yī)院內(nèi)部的新聞讓人耿耿于懷，這個醫(yī)院拯救了那些把自己餓死的孩子——他們甚至還沒有進(jìn)入青少年時期。
在沙發(fā)上陷入半昏迷狀態(tài)之中，梅根·阿徹想起她身上還有一點(diǎn)力氣，她意志堅決地盯著正要遞給她一片關(guān)乎生死的葡萄糖片的醫(yī)護(hù)人員?！斑@東西里面有多少卡路里？”她說。
Looking at the fragile frame of their 13-year-old daughter — appearing years younger thanks to a cruel illness — Jane and Phil Archer were hit by a wave of utter despair. Those few plaintive words summed up how, in a few short months, anorexia had transformed their healthy daughter into a painfully thin shadow of her former self.
望著他們十三歲的女兒的脆弱的身體，——因為這殘酷的疾病，她看起來比實際年齡要小得多——簡和菲利·阿徹被一股徹底的絕望擊倒了。那些哀傷的言語總結(jié)了厭食癥是如何在數(shù)個月內(nèi)讓他們健康的女兒成為一個她自己塑造的，痛苦地瘦削的影子。
‘It was a terrifying moment,’ remembers Jane, 47. ‘When she collapsed at home, complaining of chest pains, it hammered home how desperately we needed help. She was slipping in and out of consciousness in front of us, that’s when I dialled 999.
“那是一個可怕的時刻，”47歲的簡回憶道?！爱?dāng)她倒在家里，嚷嚷胸口疼的時候，完全說明了我們家是多么地需要幫助。她摔倒了，就在我們面前失去知覺，我馬上就撥了999.”
‘But when the paramedic arrived and tried to give her just half a glucose tablet and suddenly she was alert enough to be asking him how many calories were in it, I knew that despite doing all we could as parents, we couldn’t make her feed herself, the illness was more powerful than we were.’
“但當(dāng)醫(yī)護(hù)人員到達(dá)，打算給她半片葡萄糖片時，她馬上變得警覺，問那些葡萄糖里有多少卡路里，我知道盡管我們做了父母能做到的所有事情，我們還是沒能讓她吃東西，這疾病比我們更強(qiáng)大”
Megan, a delightful teenager with big brown eyes and hair dyed a fashionable shade of red, interrupts to give her own account of her collapse but is overcome with tears. Determined to explain her emotional response, she says: ‘You begin to feel very selfish about what you are putting your family through.’
梅根，一個有著一雙棕色大眼睛和一頭染成時尚的紅色的頭發(fā)的快樂的女孩，打斷了我們，為自己的垮掉找借口，但已泣不成聲。打算解釋她的情緒反應(yīng)，她說：“你開始感到自己非常自私，因為你讓自己的家庭遭受了這樣的苦難。”
Extraordinary maturity from a girl only just entering adolescence. Yet it is a brutal irony that fighting anorexia gives its victims a maturity beyond their years.
在這個即將步入青春期的少女身上有一種非同尋常的成熟。但一個厭食癥的受害者在對抗這種疾病的過程中變得堅強(qiáng)，實在是一個殘酷的諷刺。
It is shocking to think that this slip of a girl was hospitalised for five months after her collapse. Yet Megan’s story is far from unique. Last month statistics revealed more than 2,000 children have received treatment for eating disorders in the past three years, and more disturbingly, 98 of those children were between just five and seven.
想到這個女孩的第二次昏迷是在醫(yī)院之中，她在家中昏迷的五個月以后，這實在是讓人震驚。然而梅根的故事不是一個特例。上個月的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在過去三年間多于2000名兒童正在接受飲食失調(diào)的治療。更讓人困擾的是，其中的98個兒童只在5到7歲之間。
I’ve come to Rhodes Farm in North London, which opened in 1991, becoming the first unit dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders in children, to get an insight into this growing problem.
我來到了于1991年開放的位于北倫敦的羅德農(nóng)場，成為首個協(xié)助兒童飲食失調(diào)治療的團(tuán)體，這讓我們能夠?qū)@個不斷擴(kuò)大的問題有所洞悉。
The farm, which is in fact a sprawling former family home, is registered to care for 32 patients aged eight to 18, but staff confess that on one occasion they treated a six-year-old girl.
羅德農(nóng)場實際上曾是一座結(jié)構(gòu)零散的住宅，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)注冊，負(fù)責(zé)照顧32名年齡在8到18歲之間的兒童，但那里的員工承認(rèn)有一次他們治療了一個六歲的女孩。
No hint of anything remotely clinical is on display here; it’s all colourful duvets, teddy bears on pillows, a living room dominated by a giant TV screen. The heart-rate monitor in the six-bed room that houses the poorliest children is lying discreetly in a corner.
這里沒有進(jìn)行任何臨床治療的跡象；這里有的是色彩繽紛的羽絨被，枕頭上的泰迪熊，被一個巨大的電視屏幕占據(jù)的起居室。在住著情況最糟糕的六個孩子的房間中，心率檢測器正小心翼翼地被放角落里。
The patients, while some look frighteningly thin, are smiling and joking as they sit playing card games round a large table in the garden. But however pleasant the setting, those who run the clinic know the situation is reaching crisis point. A few years ago the average age of admission here was 15; today it is 13 and descending.
盡管有時看起來瘦得嚇人，這些病人們圍著花園中的大桌子玩撲克牌、說說笑笑時都面帶笑容。但不管鄉(xiāng)村環(huán)境多么讓人愉悅，那些跑到農(nóng)場的人都深知情況到達(dá)了一個極其危險的境地。在幾年前這個農(nóng)場里的病人平均年齡是15歲，現(xiàn)在只有13歲，而且這個數(shù)字還在下降。
Megan’s mother Jane expresses bewilderment that her daughter should develop this illness at such a young age. ‘Young people should be full of life, free from worries. It was quite a realisation that people could develop anorexia at any age.’
梅根的母親簡對她的女兒在這樣小的年紀(jì)就得了這樣的疾病感到困惑?！澳贻p人應(yīng)該充滿生命力，無憂無慮。人們可能在任何年紀(jì)患上厭食癥，這實在是讓人醍醐灌頂?！?/p>
Megan explains: ‘I never really liked the way I looked from a very young age. When I joined my secondary school most of my friends were quite petite, but I was quite chunky.’
梅根解釋道：“從我很小的時候開始我就一直沒覺得這種形象有多好看。當(dāng)我進(jìn)入中學(xué)的時候我大部分的朋友都很嬌小，但我長得相當(dāng)壯實?！?/p>
Her words are a poignant insight; it’s clear from the expression on the faces of her parents that Megan wasn’t in the least overweight.
她的話是對事件沉痛的洞察。而從她父母的措辭看來，梅根完全沒有超重。
Nonetheless, this is how Megan felt when she decided to attend a local gym. ‘Running became a compulsion,’ says Megan. ‘If anyone tried to stop me going I would get so angry I would just run out of the house and go anyway. It was a passion, I loved it. I felt proud of myself.’
盡管如此，這就是梅根決定加入當(dāng)?shù)氐慕∩砭銟凡繒r的想法?！芭懿匠蔀榱藦?qiáng)制性的義務(wù)，”梅根說。“如果任何人企圖阻止我跑步，我會變得很生氣，然后跑出家門隨便到一個地方去。這是一種激情，我熱愛跑步。我為自己感到很自豪?！?/p>
With the benefit of hindsight, Phil and Jane wonder whether they could have spotted the signs earlier, but at the time they were proud that their daughter had found something she loved and was good at.
他們在問題發(fā)生只有才有所意識，菲利和簡想知道他們有沒有可能早點(diǎn)發(fā)現(xiàn)這個征兆，但那時他們?yōu)樽约旱呐畠赫业揭患矚g而且擅長的活動感到自豪。
But as Megan exercised more and, unbeknown to her parents, ate less, her weight began to plummet. Worried she wasn’t getting adequate nutrition to support her exercise — her parents consulted a nutritionist. But Megan just became worse, as she made excuses to avoid eating with the family, and cutting food into minuscule portions, her weight continued to drop and her family felt powerless to help.
隨著梅根練習(xí)得越來越頻繁，而且瞞著父母吃得更少，她的體重開始暴跌。擔(dān)心她不能獲得足夠的營養(yǎng)去支持她的訓(xùn)練，她的父母咨詢了一名營養(yǎng)師。但梅根開始找借口避開與家人一起吃飯，并且只吃很小一部分的食物，情況變得更糟了。她的體重持續(xù)下降，她的家人感到無力求助。
They attempted to make Megan eat, sat with her until she ate, took her to the GP and even bought nutritional shakes, but she refused to touch them.
他們打算讓梅根吃飯，坐在餐桌上直到她開始吃，帶她到醫(yī)生那里去，甚至為她買營養(yǎng)飲料。但她拒絕了這一切。
‘It’s you against the anorexia,’ adds her father, Phil, a supermarket manager. By the time Megan was referred to Rhodes Farm, the situation had reached crisis point. Just a day after referral Megan collapsed at home in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire; she lay down and when she got up her body simply couldn’t cope.
“是我們?nèi)以诤蛥捠嘲Y抗?fàn)帲彼母赣H菲利補(bǔ)充道，它是一個超市經(jīng)理。梅根被帶到羅德農(nóng)場，情況已經(jīng)是千鈞一發(fā)了。那正是梅根在赫特福德郡賀梅爾亨普斯德城的家中暈倒后的第一天；她倒下了，當(dāng)她起來的時候她就是不能控制好自己的身體。
That afternoon in November 2010, she was assessed by staff at Rhodes Farm, two days later she was admitted to the clinic.
2010年11月的那個下午，羅德農(nóng)場的工作人員與她接觸，兩天后她被準(zhǔn)許入院。
During her stay, she shared a room with 17-year-old Alice Leng. Alice, another charming and vivacious teenager, was admitted to the clinic suffering from anorexia at 16. Alice’s issues with body image started at the tender age of just ten. Neither of the girls want to divulge just how much they weighed when they were admitted, as they know only too well the competitive nature of fellow sufferers who may be reading this piece, but, as with Megan, Alice required urgent treatment to get her back to a healthy weight.
在她住院期間，她和17歲的愛麗絲·凌共用一間房。愛麗絲，另一個充滿魅力的活潑的年輕人，在16歲時遭受厭食癥折磨并入院。愛麗絲對身材的擔(dān)憂在她少不更事的十歲時就開始了。在入院時，這些女孩不愿意透露自己的體重，因為她們清楚地了解這些充滿競爭意識的病友，她們可能會關(guān)注這些問題。但和梅根一樣，愛麗絲需要緊急的治療讓她的體重回復(fù)健康水平。
Alice, now a young ambassador for eating disorders charity B-eat, gives a worrying insight into the mind of a child anorexic.
愛麗絲現(xiàn)在是一個飲食失調(diào)慈善組織B-eat的大使，對有關(guān)兒童厭食癥的觀念表示擔(dān)憂。
‘If you look at people with eating disorders they are perfectionists, hard-working, generally get good grades,’ she says. ‘The signs are there. I was always fussy about food; I was paranoid about different foods touching each other, I didn’t like sauces. On top of that I’ve always been quite self-conscious.’
“如果你要找一個飲食失調(diào)的人，那么他們是完美主義者，勤奮，通常成績很好，”她說。“征兆就在那里。我總是對事物很挑剔，我對被別人接觸過的食物感到非常多慮。我不喜歡沙司。在那方面我總是非常自覺?！?/p>
By the time she was 16, Alice had suffered some bullying at school —nothing too specific just typical teenage teasing — and was worried about gaining weight due to a thyroid condition. Soon, her determination to drop weight became an obsession.
當(dāng)她十六歲的時候，愛麗絲在學(xué)校遭受了欺凌——沒有特別的原因，只是典型的青少年間的戲弄——并且開始對長胖感到擔(dān)心，因為甲狀腺的疾病。很快地，她減肥的決心成為了一種癡狂。
Alice’s mum Sheila watched over her daughter as she made a desperate attempt to get her to eat. ‘I could see what was happening. But for me it was like holding sand in your hand, you just can’t stop it slipping through your fingers. You feel helpless.’
愛麗絲的母親謝拉監(jiān)看著她的女兒，當(dāng)她絕望地想讓女兒吃點(diǎn)東西的時候?！拔夷苤勒诎l(fā)生什么事。但對我而言這像是把沙子握在手中，你就是不能停止沙粒從指縫中漏走。你感到無助。”
Sheila eventually pleaded with her local mental health service to help her daughter, and it worked. Alice was admitted to Rhodes Farm last November. She describes herself at that time as ‘broken inside.’
謝拉最終申請了當(dāng)?shù)氐木窠】捣?wù)去幫助她的女兒，那確實有所成效。去年11月愛麗絲被羅德農(nóng)場接收了。當(dāng)時她描述自己“內(nèi)在破碎”。
Alice, like Megan, was lucky. Her NHS trust paid for a place at Rhodes Farm; no small feat since it cost ￡499 a day per child.
愛麗絲和梅根一樣是幸運(yùn)的。她的國家衛(wèi)生事業(yè)局信托基金為她支付了在羅德農(nóng)場的費(fèi)用；這不是一件小事，因為每個兒童一天的花費(fèi)是499英鎊。
It’s not a place where children are force-fed, in fact, staff at the clinic tell me they have had to resort to tube-feeding a child just once in the last two years. Instead through peer support, the children are encouraged to eat each meal together.
在這里兒童不會被強(qiáng)制喂食，事實上，農(nóng)莊里的工作人員告訴我他們在過去兩年中只有一次需要對一個孩子采取胃管喂食的方法。相反地，通過同伴之間的互相支持，這些孩子們被鼓勵一起吃每一頓飯。
Target weight gain is 2kg — or, roughly, four-and-a-half pounds a week. Multiply that by the 20 weeks Megan and Alice spent here —around six stone — and it’s easy to see how perilously ill both girls were.
目標(biāo)體重增長是每周兩公斤，或者至少四又二分之一磅。算上梅根和愛麗絲在這里度過的二十周，那她們應(yīng)該已經(jīng)長了6英石。很容易看出這些女孩曾經(jīng)病得多危險。
Martin Davies, eating disorders lead clinician for Care UK, which runs the clinic, says: ‘When I started in the field back in 1986 you would rarely hear about someone aged ten, now I’m not surprised by some of the younger people we’ve treated here.’
馬丁·戴維斯，“關(guān)愛英國”飲食失調(diào)方面的專家，也經(jīng)營著這個農(nóng)場。他說：“當(dāng)我在1986年開始研究這個領(lǐng)域時，很少會聽說年齡在10歲的患者，現(xiàn)在我對更年輕的人在這里接受治療感到毫不驚訝。”
What does he think has sparked such an alarming trend? With a sigh he says: ‘I guess for me it’s about the world we live in, a society where the pressures of daily living are increasing; pressure on kids to mature earlier, where the family unit is more complicated, where family meals aren’t always together?…’
在他眼中是什么引發(fā)了這讓人警覺的趨勢呢？他嘆了一口氣，說：“我想是因為我們生活的這個世界，一個日常生活的壓力不斷增加的社會；迫使孩子過早成熟，而且現(xiàn)在家庭關(guān)系更為復(fù)雜、家人不能經(jīng)常在一起吃飯……”
And society’s obsession with body image? ‘I don’t think it’s a trigger,’ he says. ‘Anorexia isn’t the slimmer’s disease, it’s the biggest killer of all mental health illnesses. To suggest it’s about people wanting to look like someone they see in the media trivialises it, but certainly I think that those images don’t help.’
那么社會對身體意象的狂熱呢？“我不認(rèn)為這是一個原因，”他說?！皡捠嘲Y不是苗條的人的疾病，而是眾多精神疾病中最強(qiáng)大的殺手。認(rèn)為這是因為人們想要看起來像電視里的人一樣是一種平常的觀點(diǎn)，但我覺得電視中的映像沒有影響?！?/p>
As he talks, a girl who could be eight or nine walks past. ‘She’s 12, but she doesn’t look it does she?’ he says. ‘Anorexia arrests all aspects of development, not just growth, it can impact on fertility, it can cause early signs of osteoporosis and young kids don’t need to lose the same volume of weight as an older person before they are in danger.’
正當(dāng)他說話的時候，一個可能8歲或9歲的女孩經(jīng)過了?！八q了，但看起來不像吧？”他說。“厭食癥使人的發(fā)展完全停止了，不僅是生長，而且對生育能力有影響，它會引發(fā)骨質(zhì)疏松癥的早期癥狀，年輕的孩子在他們陷入危機(jī)之前，不需要減掉和成人相同的體重?！?/p>
Before I leave Megan bounces over to me and whispers: ‘Please can you say how much I appreciate all the help my parents have given me.’
在我離開之前梅根蹦跳著朝我走來，低聲說道：“請告訴我的父母我是多么感激他們?yōu)槲易龅囊磺??！?/p>
But the simple truth is, just seeing their daughters smiling and healthy again is all the thanks any of these parents want.
但一個很簡單的事實是，看到他們的女兒的笑容，能夠恢復(fù)健康，就是這里的每一個父母想要的感激。
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