Shrinking Before My Eyes

I didn’t know how to help my sick daughter By Sharon Ahern, 49, from Cork

- Nicola Moors/Hannah

Wrapping my arms around my girl Lorna, she felt smaller. And she hadn’t seemed herself for weeks...

‘Everything OK, love?’

I asked her. 

‘Yeah, fine,’ Lorna, 14, replied. 

That night, for tea, I cooked her favourite – shepherd’s pie.

Usually the first to get stuck in, despite eating like a horse, she maintained her 9st frame. But, over the last few weeks, her appetite had disappeared.

And now, as my husband Cyril, 50, and younger sons Troy, 15, and Darren, 12, tucked in, Lorna just pushed the mince around her plate.

‘Don’t you like it, pet?’ I asked her.

‘I’m just not hungry,’ she said.

Over the next few weeks, Lorna began to avoid mealtimes, telling me she’d already eaten with her friends.

I wanted to believe her but, deep down, I knew she was lying.

Every day, I’d make her breakfast, lunch and dinner, and every day she’d make some excuse about not wanting it.

I watched helplessly as she got thinner and grew more defensive.