Eating disorders: 'We had to climb walls just to get a bit of help'

Chelsea Mooney took her own life after being admitted to a mental health unit

Big Brother star Nikki Grahame and teenager Chelsea Mooney never met but they had something in common: anorexia.

Nikki, who was 38, and Chelsea, who was 17, died from the disease within a few days of each other in April 2021.

A charity in Hull has just opened two therapy rooms named after both women - in the hope that they will help others with the disease.

Analysis by BBC Breakfast reveals a huge rise in hospital admissions for people with eating disorders

Chelsea's dad, Steve Blackford, says Chelsea's family struggled to find support during her illness.

"We really had to climb over walls just to try and get a little bit of help," he says.

The rooms, at a shopping centre in Hull, will provide a range of services for people with eating disorders.

Nikki's best friend Carly Cunningham says that "there needs to be more help out there" and hopes the rooms can fill a gap in services.

'My last goodbye'

Steve was working away at sea when he got the call that his teenage daughter was dangerously ill.

"I asked the the nurse on the phone, 'Is she still gonna be there when I get back?' and they went quiet for a second," he recalls.

"And she said: 'I don't think so'."

"That was the longest 15 hours of my life knowing that I was coming back from sea to say my last goodbye to my eldest daughter."

Chelsea died in April 2021 in Sheffield after several attempts to take her own life.

She was diagnosed with an eating disorder when she was 15, by which point Steve says she'd already been struggling for two years.

During an inquest into the circumstances of Chelsea's death, a coroner expressed concerns about the care she received at an inpatient unit.

What is anorexia?

Anorexia is a mental illness which sees people limit how much they eat and drink and become extremely low-weight.

People with the condition often think they're larger than they are and experience a deep fear of gaining weight.

It can cause severe physical problems including loss of muscle strength and reduced bone strength.

Source: Beat

Steve was working at sea when he was told to come home to say his last goodbye to Chelsea

Analysis by BBC Breakfast suggest the family's not alone.

NHS figures for April 2021 to March 2022 show that more than 28,400 people were admitted to hospital with an eating disorder.

This was a 38% increase on April 2019 to March 2020 - the year before the Covid pandemic - when 20,650 people were admitted.

When you compare the figures for children in the same periods, the figure jumps from 4,232 to 7,719 - an 82% rise.

Steve says the figures are shocking and that support "seems to have got worse".

• BBC Action Line: Help and support is available here

• Child deaths expose mental health unit pressures

• 'Lockdown made it hard to get anorexia support'

'I think I'm dying'

Chelsea's name appears on one of the two rooms being opened by eating disorder charity Seed.

The second room is dedicated to Nikki Grahame who shot to fame after appearing on Big Brother in 2006.

Her experience with anorexia was well documented and she even discussed it openly in a book she released a few years later.

"Big Brother was what I would say saved her for quite a long time, actually," Nikki's best friend Carly Cunningham says.

"I felt like the eating disorder was able to take a backseat."

But during lockdown, Carly says she saw the friend she'd known since she was 11 being taken "piece by piece" by the disease.

"One day, she actually said 'Carls, I think I'm dying'."

Nikki and Carly both had eating disorders and met in hospital as children where they'd have secret sleepovers

They struggled to find a hospital place where Nikki could be cared for and had to start a fundraiser to support her recovery.

"It was the last resort," says Carly.

"We had this money but we couldn't find any beds. We did find one place in London but there was a five-week wait."

That hospital called them back the day after Nikki died on 9 April 2021 after being admitted to a hospital in Dorset.

"So many people are falling through the cracks," says Carly.

"This illness can take someone just like that and it needs to be taken seriously. There needs to be more help out there."

The government told the BBC it is investing almost £1bn in community mental health care to support adults by next year.

That's on top of £54m which it says will be spent on eating disorder support services for young people and children.

"These are tragic cases and highlight the importance of our work to improve eating disorder services and bolster mental health services," a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Nikki shot to fame after appearing on Big Brother in 2006

Steve and Carly were approached by Emmerdale actress Gemma Oaten, who also runs Seed, about naming the new rooms after Chelsea and Nikki.

Gemma set up the charity with her parents after living with an eating disorder when she was a teenager.

"I know that so easily, my life could have ended the same way," she says. "That is why this means so much to me.

"I was determined to show that their deaths will not be in vain."

The rooms, at Hull's Princes Quay shopping centre, will provide therapy, listening services, an advice line and workshops from registered trainee therapists for anyone affected by eating disorders.

"It honestly melted my heart in many different ways," Steve says about Chelsea's room. "It's bittersweet.

"Chelsea liked helping people all the time... she's still helping people, from a different place now."

Carly thinks her friend would be honoured by having the therapy room bear her name.

"I couldn't even put into words for Nikki, how happy she would be to have her name on a door that is going to help so many," she says.

"This is the most special thing that could have happened for her."

If you've been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action Line.

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