'I survived anorexia then trekked the Great Wall of China'

A doctor who battled anorexia for three years in hospital and was told she had two weeks to live has trekked the Great Wall of China to mark 10 years in recovery.

Sarah Zurub, from Coventry, said she started to become unwell at 14 and hated her body. "I just wanted to die," she said.

She spent her 15th, 16th, and 17th birthdays in hospital and completed her GCSEs there. She said her outlook on life changed after a friend died from anorexia.

"It made me think I have to do something, and it took a long time, but I made it and I'm proud of how far I've come," she told BBC CWR.

"Even when you're at your lowest and you're at complete despair and you don't think it can ever get better, it can."

The 31-year-old returned from her nine-day Great Wall of China hike on Monday, raising nearly £4,000 for Beat, the UK's leading eating disorder charity.

Zurub said that "a lot of people think anorexia is all about body image" but "it was more about loathing and hating who I was and just wanting to disappear".

She was admitted to an adolescent eating disorder unit in Sutton Coldfield for two years, where she was first told she had two weeks to live.

"They thought I was having a heart attack, but the muscle of my heart was wasted away essentially," she said.

She told BBC CWR that she was fed through a tube for a year at the unit.

"I thought eating and drinking was poison, and it was going to make me gain weight," she explained.

"To me, gaining weight was one of the worst things that could potentially happen to me."

In her third year Zurub was moved to an eating disorder clinic in Warwick, but she said when she left, she was still unwell.

"It was more like I left, and I knew what to do to survive and not get myself back into hospital, like making sure that my weight didn't dip just enough to go back," she said.

"I had endless years of therapy and seeing the dietician, then I lost a friend from anorexia, and slowly I decided that I needed to get myself well."

Zurub said she started figure skating and it reminded her that she needed to be healthy.

"I was bribed essentially, like if you have a chocolate bar, you can go skate for a little bit of time," she said.

"I used to see everybody else healthy on the ice and think, 'Well, my body needs to be healthy.'"

She then decided she wanted to become a doctor "to give back to all the doctors that saved my life", and she has been qualified for five years.

Zurub told BBC CWR that she urges anyone who felt as she did to speak to family, friends and their doctor.

"It's been 10 years now that I've been a healthy weight; I've done it," she said.

"Everyone deserves that chance at recovery and everyone deserves to be happy."

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