Rachael Farrokh: 40-Pound Anorexic Actress Pleas For Her Life

Rachael Farrokh, 37, weighs only 40 pounds, the result of a 10-year battle with anorexia. In an attempt to save her own life, Rachael Farrokh posted a video to YouTube begging for help. She and her hu...
Rachael Farrokh: 40-Pound Anorexic Actress Pleas For Her Life
Written by Pam Wright
  • Rachael Farrokh, 37, weighs only 40 pounds, the result of a 10-year battle with anorexia.

    In an attempt to save her own life, Rachael Farrokh posted a video to YouTube begging for help. She and her husband, Rod Edmondson, have also launched a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $140,00 for her medical costs.

    Rachael Farrokh, an actress by trade, took to social media for help after she said she had exhausted all other options.

    “My name’s Rachael. I need your help,” she says in the YouTube video. “In order for us to get there — and I’m not one to ever ask for help — I need your help. We need your help. Otherwise, I don’t have a shot, and I’m ready to get better. So please, if there’s anything you can do to save my life, please click this link that you’ll see and do anything you can. Anything will help.”

    Rachael Farrokh’s husband wrote on the GoFundMe page that hospitals have refused to treat his wife because she doesn’t meet minimum weight requirements.

    According to the site, Farrokh has undergone blood transfusions, blood clots, edema and has suffered heart, liver and kidney failure. “She is at a critical point. … Her days are limited if we don’t take action immediately,” he writes.

    Initially, Farrokh, who lives in San Clemente, California, hoped to raise enough money for treatment at the ACUTE Center for Eating Disorders at the Denver Health Medical Center.

    “My doctor wants me to stay here (in California) and is bringing the hospital basically to my bedside,” Rachael Farrokh said Friday. “I’ll have a doctor, a registered nurse, therapist and other specialist treat me from home. My eating disorder doctor has set all of this up for me.

    “She actually has provided even extra care because right now she doesn’t think it’s safe for me to make the travel across country to a treatment center. We are trying to build up to that point to travel to a specialized treatment center like Denver Health.”

    Rachael Farrokh will be required to slowly increase her calorie intake in increments of 25 calories.

    “What people don’t understand is I can’t just eat a cheeseburger because it could kill me,” she said. “We have already started. It’s going OK. I have good days and bad days just like anyone. What kept me really up and fired right now is the love and support and motivation from everyone who has reached out to me — thousands of people. I had a bulimic girl tell me she pulled her head out of the toilet and (sought) treatment after seeing my story.”

    Rachael Farrokh said she is resigned to the reality that she may not be saved, but she wants to help others by bringing light to her affliction.

    “I want to bring awareness to this disease because it’s going unnoticed and there’s a lot of shame around eating disorders right now,” Rachael Farrokh said. “It’s inspiring me to want to get better — I want my struggle to help other women know that they aren’t alone. This terrible disease should not be kept in the closet of shame.”

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