MP shares experience of daughter’s eating disorder amid appeal for support

An MP has made an emotional appeal to improve eating disorder support as he said his experiences with his daughter left an “indelible stain on my soul”.

Perran Moon described how his daughter had been “clutched” by anorexia, but she could only qualify for life-saving support if she became critically ill and was “staring death in the face”.

The Labour MP said at one stage he was left hoping his “emaciated” child would not eat so she became “so ill that she qualifies for the support that she needs”.

Mr Moon said those “truly shameful thoughts are etched on my conscience” and his voice cracked with emotion as he told a parliamentary debate: “For having those terrible thoughts, to my daughter, wherever she is, if she sees this speech, I want to say, ‘I’m sorry, my lamb’.”

MPs heard Mr Moon’s daughter has since recovered her health and is working in the NHS using her own “painful experience to offer others the care and support she never had”.

Mr Moon asked the Government to prioritise a “rapid overhaul” of the system to help young people and for families “going through that hellish tornado of pain” to receive assurances that action will be taken “swiftly”.

He was commended by fellow MPs for his “brave” contribution to a Westminster Hall debate on eating disorder awareness.

The MP for Camborne and Redruth opened his speech by noting his “relationship with anorexia began nine years ago” and is a “massive part” of why he sought to be elected to the Commons.

Mr Moon said: “My story began when I took a phone call from a teacher at my daughter’s school. She asked me to come and collect her, as she had passed out, having not eaten breakfast or dinner.

“Over the next few months and years, my daughter, whose relationship with food had already become terribly distorted, unbeknown to me, was clutched by anorexia and its claws dug deeper and deeper into her as she slipped into a desperately poorly state.

“She became too unwell for school, and the pressure of her exams was like a ton of bricks on her as the anorexia gave her a cruel outlet of control, which sits behind so much of this, that she sought in her life.

“As a parent, as a father our most solemn undertaking is to protect and nurture our children. Against this terrible illness, I was utterly useless.”

Mr Moon said he learnt his anger at the time was “driven by fear” as he struggled to support his daughter and was “incapable” of finding anyone else who could provide her with the care she “so desperately needed”.

He said: “And here is the killer blow – the only way she could qualify for life-saving support was if she became critically ill, so ill that she was staring death in the face.

“So sitting at the kitchen table for hours, watching your emaciated child looking terrified at a small plate of food in front of her and hoping that she does not eat it, so she becomes so ill that she qualifies for the support that she needs.

“Those truly shameful thoughts are etched on my conscience and visit me every single day. They have left an indelible stain on my soul.

“For having those terrible thoughts, to my daughter, wherever she is, if she sees this speech, I want to say, ‘I’m sorry, my lamb’.”

Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse (Bath) intervened to give Mr Moon time to compose himself, praised him for being “so brave” and shared details of her daughter’s experience.

Mr Moon added: “How could a system be so warped as to make a parent feel that way about their own child – the thing they love most, more than anything else in the world?

“Measuring the criticality of eating disorders in BMI (body mass index) is a medieval evaluation, hopelessly inadequate to the needs of the sufferer.

“Proper psychological assessments need to be undertaken at the earliest identification of a problem, with a package of appropriate measures applied thereafter, dependent on the severity of the case.

“My daughter spent two periods of six months in hospital. She recovered her health and is today working in the NHS in mental health services as a senior assistant psychologist, using her own painful experience to offer others the care and support she never had.”

Health minister Stephen Kinnock said “record investment and progress has improved access to eating disorder services”, but noted: “Demand has surged, especially since the pandemic, outpacing the growth in capacity.

“We must do more to ensure that everyone who needs support can get it without delay.”

Mr Kinnock later said: “It absolutely is not right that any individual is being refused treatment based on their weight or BMI alone.

“National guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is clear that single measures such as BMI or duration of illness should not be used to determine whether to offer treatment for an eating disorder.

“I am ready to receive any representations from colleagues who have evidence that that is happening, and I would be happy to raise that with the appropriate channels.”