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Show Anorexia fatal for at least 10 percent of afflicted BY CARY LEIDER VOCRIN KRT COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - At the end, no amount of food would have helped Laurie Borden. Her digestive system, damaged by years of starvation and laxative use, was long past working. When she did eat, an obvious gurgling would follow within minutes - the sound of food quickly passing from her stomach to the colostomy bag she wore for nearly a decade. Borden, 38, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died June 1 after a 24-year battle with eating disorders. "Anorexia Nervosa" is listed on her death certificate as the cause of death. Before she died, she directed her brother, a journalist, to name the illness in her obituary. "She told me what to write," said Lark Borden, an editor in Washington, D.C. "She wanted for it to be well-known that she had died of anorexia, hoping it would help other people." Anorexia or bulimia most often get attention when someone famous - Karen Carpenter, Princess Diana or a member of the Hollywood set - is afflicted. But experts say the diseases, in which people either don't eat or throw up what they do eat, are more common than people think. They report treating girls at younger ages and counseling more men. It's estimated 1 million people suffer from anorexia and an additional 9 million from bulimia, but Doug Bunnell, past president of the National Eating Disorders Association, said those are conservative statistics. Some view both as diets gone bad or lifestyle choices, but Bunnell says they are complicated illnesses with complicated treatments. Anorexia - characterized by self-starvation and dramatic weight loss - has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness, said Bunnell, clinical director of the Renfrew Center of Connecticut, which treats eating disorders. "The best estimates are around 10 percent of the women with anorexia nervosa will ultimately die as a result of their illness," he said. "Most people still see these disorders as fairly benign. You don't really appreciate until you have it in your family how damag- • ing they are and how much havoc they wreak." Borden's spiral began several years before her family knew anything was seriously wrong. It wasn't until Laurie Borden was in her 20s that her mom, Lura Borden, learned her daughter had been vomiting her meals since junior high when a friend commented about her hips. But Laurie Borden was never heavy. "Her worst enemy was herself," her mother said. "She hated herself." Her view of herself contradicted everything her mother and others saw: "She was so pretty, an honor student - she had it all." High achievement is common among those with eating disorders. Sufferers are often perfectionists. "They're people-pleasers," said Barbara Fleming, a licensed clinical social worker whose practice in Colorado Springs focuses on eating disorders. "They know what everyone around them nee'ds, - a sort of internal cannibalbut they don't know what they ism. need." She eventually stopped Borden worked hard at working and went on disabilher academic achievements, ity. and just as hard at keeping Years of abusing laxatives her illness secret. Like many bulimics, she hid what she was - she told her mom that at doing, and her weight was nor- one point she was taking more mal. than four dozen at a time shut down her digestive tract, After high school, she set and a portion of her intestines off for college in Phoenix. had to be removed. But within a month or so, she came home. Her mother Treatment for anorexia is now thinks it was because arduous and expensive and she couldn't hide her eating usually not covered by insurdisorder well in a dorm setance. ting, although she used other The average recovery time excuses. is four to seven years and can include individual therapy, She also told her family nutritional therapy, psychiatric she had been sexually abused medications, family therapy there, which could have trigand medical monitoring, gered the anorexia. Bunnell said. With college out of the picture, Borden worked at Best The earlier treatment is Products Co., a now-closed sought, the better the chance catalog-showroom store on of recovery. With appropriate North Academy Boulevard, care, Bunnell said, 80 percent and got an apartment nearby. of patients can recover fully. She was an excellent salesFor Laurie Borden, it was person - polite, friendly too late. and very goal-oriented, said One April day, paramedBarbara Pollock, who was ics were called to the Borden her boss. She moved up from home. cashier to manager of the jewAbout two weeks before elry department, a position she she died, Borden ate a slice held from 1991 to 1994. of cheese pizza, yogurt and a Popsicle - more than anyone As Borden's work responhad seen her eat in years. sibility increased, her weight decreased, Pollock said. She died shortly after noon June 1, just 65 pounds on her At one point, she weighed just 89 pounds. She often com- 5-foot, 8-inch frame. A woman from church was with her, plained of aches and pains. It holding her hand. was her body turning on itself ^ENROLLMENT From page 7 Photo by KRT LURA BORDEN, of Colorado Springs, Colo, with photos of her daughter, Laurie. She died on June 1,2005 because of an eating disorder. Fashion, 4 YOU (Clothing & Shoes) ALL SHOES ARE BUY ONE QET ONE FREE! WOMEN'S MEN'S SILVER Y.M.I DICKEY'S PLASTIC SOLO ( s LUCKY'S "We're doubling our prospective pool for the 2006 freshman class," she said. The Admissions Office just redesigned their Web page, making it more student-friendly, Nielsen said. A new feature of the site includes "A-talk," an instant messaging program that allows prospective students to chat with an ambassador or admissions employee any time during the day. The key is inspiring students to physically come check out USU, Nielsen said. "If we can get students on campus, the university sells itself," she said. Unfortunately, USU received a lot of bad publicity last year relating to the 43 percent tuition increase, Kinkead said. "We had unintentional negative marketing. This was a real turn-off to prospective students," she said. USU is also under-resourced in its recruitment operations, Kinkead said. USU spends about $54 per student to recruit, while Weber spends $140 and University of Utah spends S280. The national average of four-year school recruitment spending per student is S516. Other impacts on enrollment include more stringent requirements on international students by the federal government, Utah students' dependency on financial aid and competitive graduate programs from other universities, Kinkead said. -ashschiller@cc.usn.edu LOW RIDER BEN DAVIS 848 N. MAIN • LOQAN • 787-8115 today September 27,2005 •^"Si. l Photo by AP TINA JONES, a nurse from Ennis, Texas, displays a poster of support she was given from her daughters' elementary school. Jones was one of the people that helped at the scene of a fatal bus fire carrying Hurricane Rita evacuees. fill ^ EVACUEES From page 2 -2 -fulUqycuvtKeVansi . o : From Madison, CT INxirs nt JZIIWW Alusic nt »:OOI»Al @ The Limdstniiii Center 1275 Bnst 1OOO North IGMAPHIEPSILON $4 w/stiitlent ill in the fire. "He was saying, 'I need Ada, I need Ada,'" Jones said. Jones also recalled trying to comfort a 101-year-old woman who survived probably because she was moved during the trip to an aisle seat near the back of the bus, where people were rescued first. Someone who took her previous seat died. The woman told Jones, "'You know she died, and I don't know how to feel.' She was really struggling with that." Then there was a woman who broke down and cried only after Jones loaned the woman her cell phone so she could talk to her son. Jones later noticed the driver and went over to him. "He didn't say anything," she said. "He didn't cry. He just had this look of shock on his face." The bus, run by Global Limo of McAllen, Texas, was taken out of service in July after its registration expired. It was allowed back on the road because of a waiver signed last week by Gov. Rick Perry intended to make available as many commercial vehicles as possible for the hurricane evacuation. Authorities on Sunday said 23 people perished in the fire, down from earlier estimates that 24 passengers died. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Dallas over the weekend to begin sifting through the wreckage. NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said the cause of the accident might not be known for a year or longer. According to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records, drivers for Global had been ordered to stop driving five times in the last three years, mostly for infractions regarding bus logs. In 2004, the company was rated as "satisfactory," with no evidence of major safety problems in recent years, records show. Johnny Ray Partain, a former Global investor who has fought a legal battle with its owner for several years, said he has driven four of the company's buses and warned a court in May that the vehicles were poorly maintained and danger- ous. "I was complaining about the brakes," Partain said Sunday. "My attorney asked me if those buses are dangerous, and I said, 'Yes, somebody's going to get killed.'" Partain said Global has lost its business charter twice within the past 16 months for failing to pay state franchise taxes and does not pay its drivers very much. The company also filed for bankruptcy in February. A man who answered the phone at Global's offices denied that Partain ever worked for the company. He referred all other questions to San Antonio attorney Mark Cooper, who declined to comment on the company's finances or bus-safety records. The company had contracts with schools to drive students to athletic events but made most of its money driving seniors to gambling spots such as Las Vegas, Partain said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid Global Limo $48,000 to evacuate people last month from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, he said. |