To feel skeptical about this fundraiser?

[Klayden]

Please be aware before clicking or researching, that this lady has severe anorexia nervosa, is very emaciated and there are lots of photos of her.

www.gofundme.com/savemyrachael

There's a fundraiser that has hit mainstream media. It's very shocking because of how physically unwell this individual has become. This lady has Anorexia Nervosa. She lives in the US and her husband started an online fundraiser. Apparently there is only one treatment facility in the country that will accept her when she is so medically unstable.

However, her husband has come up against criticism. Various comments have indicated that a.) there are other eating disorder programmes that accept very ill people b.) some of those programmes have funds for people in Rachael's situation and c.) why is her insurance not covering her?

They've raised $186,000 and now, she's not going to this 'last chance saloon' hospital treatment programme and she will be 'treated' at home whatever this may entail.

It caught my attention as I have personal experience of Anorexia Nervosa and I know how hard it can be to access treatment, wherever you live.

I feel bad for feeling skeptical but I think she is being taken advantage of and something makes me feel really uncomfortable.

It is very typical of the control suffers try to exert to insist that there is only one possible source of treatment, but in general they don't actually want to access that treatment, and are likely to find an excuse if it is actually offerred.

The fundraiser seems driven by the husband who, one would assume, had done a little bit of research.

I'm not sure either to be honest but people who are in California and know the system were questioning it which make me go hmm.

I personally have a policy of not donating to any of these fundraising pages. I will only donate to causes which are being monitored and maintained by a registered charity.

Can you think what the response would be if a morbidly obese person posted a video like that because then needed cash for gastric band and counselling?

Peppe would be horrible. "Just eat less"

This is the flip side of the same coin.

I have only ever donated to one of these dubious non-charity causes and that when I personally knew the guy involved. As a generally rule, I reLly don't like the lack of regulation around these.

I don't like the go fund me stuff as I think it soon to abuse however this girl is terminally ill. If she doesn't get help she will die. She has said the publicity has not only raised money for her treatment but helped others who are spiralling towards a similar fate and have now asked for help before it gets that far. I have a very good friend with an eating disorder. I would love for her to get better but it is too deeply entrenched in her. And the doctors won't help until she is even more underweight and needs a drip. Then she will get help. It is a battle to stop her getting to that point.

Perfectlypurple I'm not saying that I doubt the cause is genuine, but these types of fundraisers are open to abuse. I'm sure we all recall the Dax debacle.

Registered charities will manage genuine fundraising causes. A number of years ago I headed up the fundraising for a specific cause. We approached a charity and asked them to administer the fund, which they did as the cause was aligned with what comes under their remit. All funds were paid to the charity, and they maintain the funds. The recipients of the fundraising can provide quotes or receipts as they need the funds for the cause it was raised for. The whole thing is transparent and can't be abused.

I"m sure this girl and her family would be able to have the anorexia association or whichever is an overseeing charity of this type of need, and have them manage the funds legitimately, especially when you are talking about the amounts of money that have been raised.

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I wonder if she set the target as almost unobtainable so there was an excuse why she couldnt do it. Anorexia is a serious psychological problem, and the treatment will mean having to face whatever demon it is that is driving the disease. Perhaps she is too scared to do that, too scared to deal with the aftermath. Now that the money is there she is looking for another way out.
God knows what happened to her, poor woman.

I too am skeptical. There have been quite a few health centers to reach out to her but only one can help according to them. Not much information is known about her story.
Nevertheless she is clearly very ill and needs all the help she can get.