Rhiannon Receives Top Prize In Priory Essay Competition
18-year-old Rhiannon Dunlop from Horsham in West Sussex has scooped the top prize in a national literacy competition.
The Priory Ryan McKay prize is awarded each year to the young person who submits the best non-fiction composition on a set topic related to mental and physical health. The subject for 2010 entries was ‘Eat to Live, Live to Eat’ and judges deemed that Rhiannon’s honest account of her battle with anorexia was worthy of the £1,000 top prize.
Rhiannon, who is now in recovery and once again living life to the full, was very seriously ill when she was admitted to the Priory hospital in Roehampton. Her essay charts her descent into anorexia and the slow, but successful, road towards recovery.
Ryan McKay was successfully treated at the Priory Hospital Glasgow for an eating disorder but tragically died in a car accident in August 2007. His parents, who live in Buckie, a small town between Aberdeen and Inverness, decided to honour his memory by working with the Priory Group to raise awareness of positive mental and physical health among young people, who are most at risk of eating disorders.
According to B-eat (previously the Eating Disorders Association), there are 1.15 million people suffering from diagnosed and undiagnosed eating disorders throughout the UK, with just 90,000 sufferers currently receiving treatment.
Priory specialist units treat all stages of eating disorders, including patients who are severely underweight and who might need specialist feeding. Priory consultants and therapists have provided thousands of eating disordered patients with the insight and courage they need to change, to maintain healthy bodies and relationships with food and to lead positive, fulfilled lives.
Matthew Franzidis, chief operating officer of the Priory Group presented Rhiannon with her prize in a ceremony at the Priory hospital in Roehampton. He said: “Rhiannon’s essay really touched everybody involved in the competition and she was a unanimous winner. She articulated her feelings and emotions about her illness and her relationship with food and is a worthy winner of the Priory Ryan McKay prize.”
Ryan’s parents, Robert and Mandy McKay, attended the prize presentation and were delighted to meet Rhiannon.
Robert said: “Rhiannon’s story was very moving and both Mandy and I were in no doubt that she is a worthy winner of the competition.”
Rhiannon said: “This has been difficult for me and it was very emotional to revisit my time in the Priory, but I hope that by writing about my own experiences I can help other young people to understand that they are not alone and that help is available.
“I was honoured to meet Robert and Mandy and pleased that Priory has given me this great opportunity.”
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