Trying to outrun the trauma

When Schley thinks back today on her healing journey, she sees a blur of steps forward.

“It’s been amazing,” she said of the necessary actions she took when she was finally ready to take control of her life.

The eating disorder affected her for decades because she couldn’t escape the pain of the sexual abuse.

“I was really angry all the time and beatin’ the hell outta people,” she said.

“Yeah, I was pretty angry. My head was spinning with constant thoughts and I was living a night- mare every day of my life.”

Schley bounced all over the country trying to outrun the horrible memories that plagued her.

She found herself tormented by suicidal thoughts for many years as a result of the abuse she suffered as a child.

When a coworker died at the mill she worked at in Mackenzie, she blamed herself.

The man didn’t lock out his machine before doing maintenance on it. She didn’t have anything to do with the tragedy but she took it on and ate that, too.

“I knew that he didn’t put his locks on but in my heart I thought I killed him and I wanted to die,” she said.

“He was killed in November 2007 and I went into the Mackenzie hospital in January 2008 and stayed there for two months because I was on suicide watch.”

When she was released from the hospital, her bulimia was completely out of control.

“I was puking eight, ten times a day,” Schley said.

“And consuming so much. I could eat three foot-long sandwiches and cookies and chips and go home and puke and two hours later I would eat again. The food most people would consume in a week I would consume in a day. Yeah, I would just eat and puke, eat and puke, eat and puke.”