Hopefully this will clear some things up. Leon posted this last night. As someone who supported Nikki’s go fund me (and knew her) the truth about her exploitation needs to come out. And yes, she absolutely should’ve been on a DoL (deprivation of liberty) and treated on a gastro ward. She has been massively let down.
Edit: just to add I haven’t and can’t watch that documentary
Todayby Leon Dee, Team Member
Edit: I posted this last night before the documentary aired, but it was removed. I have made minor adjustments in the hope that those who missed it yesterday, will get a chance to read it again today.
TRIGGER WARNING:
I know that all of you reading this wanted to see Nikki get better. So I would like to address a few things and detail the difficulties we had trying to get Nikki the help she so desperately needed.
There are many families sadly going through similar struggles right now and need all the help they can get. I feel more awareness needs to be brought to attention of how difficult it is to help a person with an eating disorder that is out of control. Hopefully I can do that from here.
From the time of making this fundraising page until the very end, Nikki had not been treated by anyone for her eating disorder.
The Nightingale Hospital had a 3 month waiting list. Myself and 5 other of Nikki's friends worked around the clock trying to find alternative clinics, or somewhere for her to go until a bed became available there.
Nikki’s health had deteriorated so much that no other clinic would accept her, because her BMI was at a critical level. They all suggested that we take Nikki to a hospital ASAP.
The main issue was that Nikki had been fully consumed by the Anorexia Nervosa, and didn’t want to go to hospital. She was so worried about being tube fed.
Paramedics would be called to her flat, but all she had to do was tell them she was fine, and they would have to leave. She could not be weighed without giving consent.
We called a Crisis Hotline and they informed us that Nikki could not be sectioned as she had only just been discharged from a previous section. The best advice the Crisis Team could give us was to take Nikki to hospital immediately.
Nikki had to go to hospital out of her own free will and convincing her was not easy. But I knew there was a part of her that wanted to get her life back, because she was the one who asked me for help in the first place (I suggested that we make a fundraiser but I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. Nikki called me the next day saying it was a great idea and to make it straight away, and with help from another friend of Nikki, that’s what we did).
Eventually after visiting Nikki at her flat, I discussed with her about going elsewhere until a bed became available at The Nightingale Hospital, and explained that no other clinics were willing to take her as she was critical and in need of refeeding.
The only other option aside from going to hospital, would be to go to Vincent Square, the nearest NHS clinic in London. Nikki agreed to go there as long as it was temporary until The Nightingale became available.
Within a few days the plan had changed. An Industry Professional told me Nikki was now going to The Recover Centre who were able to take her straight away. I explained that Nikki needed refeeding but I was assured this new clinic did "all of that". I was asked to update the GoFundMe page to announce the new plan, which I did.
A few days after posting the update, we realised the Recover Centre was only a day centre, with no refeeding facilities, which meant Nikki's meals would not be monitored and she could continue to use her exercise machine at home.
In the following days, I was informed that Nikki had lost her eyesight for nearly half an hour whilst suffering a painful headache, which suggested that her sodium levels were critically low. I managed to visit her that evening and told her I was going to call 999 and she needed to get into the ambulance with me. Nikki told me she couldn’t because it had been arranged for a TV Production Company to film her last moments with a terminally ill relative the next day.
I couldn’t believe that Nikki had been convinced to take part in a documentary which would be filming her spiral out of control for entertainment purposes. Especially since she was vulnerable and in need of immediate medical attention.
I was later contacted and asked to take part in the documentary. I declined and stressed that the main priority should be getting Nikki into hospital, not filming her mental and physical health deteriorate for a TV show.
I explained that Anorexia is a delicate subject that has to be handled carefully. I was also curious whether a psych evaluation had been performed on Nikki prior to filming her...
Our last attempt to take Nikki to hospital was after she was turned away by the Recover Clinic for being too ill, as we predicted. We found out that a cab had been booked to send Nikki 150 miles away from her flat in London, for more filming commitments.
Myself and the other friend of Nikki, scrambled to see Nikki before the cab arrived to try and convince her one last time to come with us to the hospital. She finally agreed to come, but was worried she'd get in trouble for messing up the filming session. Nikki said we need to call the Industry Professional to inform them about the change of plan.
The other friend of Nikki spoke to the Industry Professional but was told to stop interfering and to stay out of it.
That was the last time I saw her.
Nikki ended up getting in that cab, and suffered a very serious back injury after stopping off at a chemist during the journey. She was filmed being taken away by the ambulance by the TV Production Company.
Nikki DID finally end up in hospital but was not being seen there for her eating disorder; only for her back injury. Her meals were not being monitored and she told us that she was able to hide her food in bags without any staff knowing.
Permission was not given to film in the hospital so Nikki had been convinced to send personal recordings of herself via her phone instead.
Because of my experiences outlined above, I declined to take part in the new documentary and denied them permission to use my name.
I don't know how, but something needs to change so that a person, whose BMI is at a critical life threatening level can be sectioned in order to get the help they need, as well as needing an improvement in medical monitoring and GP guidance in eating disorders.
Also I believe something also needs to happen to protect people from having their mental health exploited by the entertainment industry. Especially when they don't understand the illness they are covering.
Thank you for your time.
Leon
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