Mother of anorexic teenager with dangerously low blood pressure and heart rate leaves 24 Hours in A&E viewers in tears as she reveals her pain at seeing her daughter 'fade away in front of her'

Viewers of 24 Hours in A&E were left in tears after watching the mother of an anorexic teenager with dangerously low blood pressure and heart rate revealed her pain at seeing her daughter 'fade away in front of her.' 

In last night's episode of the Channel 4 show, mother-of-two Jo explained that her daughter Sammy, 14, had become fixated on her weight after being weighed at school and feeling she was in the heavier part of the 'normal' category.

Jo explained: 'It was really hard to watch her not eating, because she was fading away in front of me and there wasn't anything I could do to help her.' 

The teenager was brought to St George's Hospital in London with dangerously low heart rate and blood pressure after restricting her calories to just 500 each day, with doctors at the hospital insisting she stay on the ward to take part in a re-feeding plan. 

Many of those watching were left in tears over Jo and Sammy's revelations about her eating disorder, with one commenting: 'Makes me cry every week without fail. Girl with anorexia has such sadness in her eyes. I just want to hug her and tell her she's beautiful.'

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Viewers of Channel 4's 24 Hours in A&E were left in tears as Jo and her daughter Sammy, 14, appeared on the programme while the teenager was battling anorexia 

Meanwhile another wrote: 'Just watched this episode...Sammy literally broke my heart.

'But I'd just like to say how brave and strong you are. I'm over the moon you are feeling better. Well done you!' 

Opening up about her daughter's battle, Jo revealed: 'As a parent, your main job is to feed them, nurture them, keep them healthy. 

'But sometimes something happens and you can't do anything to help them. You can't always protect them. That makes you feel really helpless.' 

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Viewers were left in tears over the emotional piece in the programme, with many praising Sammy for her bravery 

She explained how the disorder had begun, saying: 'Sammy was a happy child. I love being a parent, it's the hardest thing in the world, but it's the best thing in the world too.'

'Sammy got weighed in Year 6, and it came back that she was at a healthy weight but it was at the top end of the healthy weight. She wasn't happy with that.

'That's when she started saying she was too big, and she looked at pictures of herself and said she looked really chubby, really fat.'

'I thought she looked lovely. I tried to tell her, "You're by no means overweight". 

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The teenager was taken to St George's Hospital after doctors found her blood pressure and heart rate had dropped 'dangerously low'

'She had that in her head, it would have made no difference what I had said to her.'

She continued: 'It was Year 8 when I saw her eating patterns change. to begin with she wanted to lose weight, and instead of just cutting out bad foots, she started cutting out most foods.' 

'I didn't realise how bad it was until I realised how thing she was and how ill she looked.'

'That's when I started to panic and that's when I took her to the doctors. She was diagnosed with anorexia.'

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Sammy's mother Jo explained how her daughter became fixated with food after being weighed at school in Year 6 

Jo explained how her daughter 'didn't think she had an eating disorder at all' and 'was angry' at her because she felt she 'didn't need to go to the doctors.

She said: 'The eating disorder just took over her whole head really. There's a lot of pressure on Sammy's generation to look and act a certain way and with all social media, weight is a big thing and looking really skinny is really encouraged.' 

'I found out about the websites about a month after we went to the doctor. To begin with, Sammy just told me the websites were helping her to lose weight, giving her recipes, tips. She played it down, she didn't tell me the extent of it.' 

'Sammy thought of it as a good thing, because she was losing weight.' 

Jo explained: 'I was really, really worried about Sammy. I felt really desperate. 

'We went to the doctors and they referred us to a special eating disorders department.

'We had to go and see them every week and have counselling and get weighed. 

'Each week she was losing weight, rather than putting weight on. She was really really pale, she was feeling really faint, had no energy, was tired all the time.' 

She continued: 'Every time we went, they would check her heart rate just to check she was alright, but they realised her heart rate was too low so they phones St George's A&E and they said to bring her in straight away.'

While the mother and daughter sat in the hospital ward, Jo asked Sammy if she now realised 'the seriousness' of the situation, but the teenager insisted: 'I'm not that bad.' 

The team did an ECG on Sammy, with Jo telling doctors: 'This is the problem, she was doing really well and she was nearly at target. 

'But the last few weeks she's really gone downhill. She's got to the point now, she's not eating. I'm really scared to be honest.' 

Zanna, the pediatric registrar, told the camera: 'What happens to your body when you restrict your eating is it switches into starvation mode. 

'Your body fat is the first to go and then your muscle. Your heart is a muscle. So you can run into the risk of running into irregularities of heart rate.' 

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Jo told doctors at St George's that she was terrified for her daughter's health after they arrived at the A&E unit 

Sammy explained how she had been eating 'about 500 calories a day', with Zanna saying: 'You're both aware that you need to take in more than that.'  

Doctors remained concerned that Sammy was damaging her internal organs, and decided to keep her in overnight with Zanna explaining: 'You're going to have to be admitted to this ward here, and the reason for that is how quickly you have lost so much weight and because of how low your calorie restriction has been.'  

Sammy appeared devastated as her mother wrapped her in an enormous hug, asking the doctor: 'Why can't I go home and eat?'

But Zanna told her: 'We need to help you from all angles. It's a difficult one to beat, but you can absolutely one hundred per cent do it.'

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After a blood test and revealing she was eating just 500 calories a day, the teenager was admitted into the hospital for a week 

Her mother said: 'It's going to be fine, you're going to get help now, this is what you need.'

Zanna added: 'The problem with it Sammy is, that level of restricting or that period of time is actually really hard on your body.'

Her mother added: 'I don't think she realises the seriousness of the situation.'

But an upset Sammy as her mother hugged her: 'I don't want to stay in, I don't want to be by myself. I don't like it. I want to go home.' 

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Children's doctor Zanna revealed how the level of food restriction that Sammy had been doing had been 'really hard' on her body 

At the end of the programme it was revealed that Sammy had been admitted to a ward for a comprehensive re-feeding plan.

Jo said: 'The first night, her heartrate went really really low to the point where all the alarms went off. they all came running in and they though they might have to give her CPR.'

'That's when she realised what she was doing to her body and she realised she could kill herself.' 

Her heartrate recovered overnight without medical intervention and she returned home seven days later.

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At the end of the programme, Sammy revealed she is still in the recovery stage for her anorexia, but said she was looking forward to a life where 'she didn't look at food as calories'

Speaking at the end of the programme, she explained: 'Before I was diagnosed with anorexia I just thought it meant that you didn't eat and was underweight but there's so much more to it. 

'Even though I'm kind of in the recovery stage, I still look as food as calories sometimes and not as energy or nourishment.

'I want a life where I don't look at food as calories, where I can eat pizza with my friends and that sounds much better than being anorexia.'

Viewers of the programme were left in tears over the emotional story, with one commenting: 'Showing a 14-year-old who had been admitted with complications and near to a heart attack from anorexia after being weighed in school...always eye opening to see how serious it can get and how important education and care is to prevent it from getting this far.'

Another added: 'Wow love how happy Sammy looked at the end. Anorexia is such a difficult illness to battle as an adult, never mind a teenager.'