Raising the barre, ballet girl who was too terrified to eat
TOES pointed, arms aloft, young dancer Errin Godwin Whalley is the very picture of delicate grace.
But the teenager, who has just been accepted for a prestigious ballet school, has faced a long battle with a rare condition that left her ‘scared’ to eat.
It began when Errin, from Pitlochry, Perthshire, had an allergic reaction to food when she was just a year old and had to be airlifted to hospital.
Her mother, Myette Whalley, a 52-yearold actress, said: ‘We were on the way to North Devon in the middle of the countryside when Errin was about one. I handed her some hummus on a rice cake and she had an anaphylactic reaction.
‘She started reacting, lips swelling and changing colour and looking very ill. We had an air ambulance and ambulances trying to find us to get us to hospital.
‘After that trauma she decided she was not going to eat at all. She just stopped.
‘Medical help and sheer hard work’
It got to the point that we were in hospital and she was really, really underweight and dehydrated and on a drip. We were seeing consultants and eventually they gave her a feeding tube.
‘It took years and years for her to eat properly again. At first she would only eat biscuits, or white food like pasta. She also has allergies, including sesame seeds, dairy and eggs. It has been very difficult but she is much better now.’
As well as her food phobia, Errin was also diagnosed with multiple pituitary hormone deficiency, which makes her muscles weak and movement difficult. As a result of the condition she reached her full height, 4ft 8in, aged 11.
However she learned to overcome her fear of food and continued to train as a dancer. Now aged 17, she has won a place at the renowned Ballet West dance school in Oban, Argyll. Mrs Whalley said: ‘When others were going off to ballet lessons she was in hospital seeing consultants. With medical help and sheer hard work she gained the strength and techniques needed to become a ballet dancer. She has worked extremely hard to gain this place.’
Errin said: ‘I remember just being so scared of trying new things and only eating sausages and pasta – it was just that for a while. I was scared because I had got it in my head that food made me ill.’
Dr Gillian Harris, of the University of Birmingham, said: ‘Errin seems to have avoidant restrictive food intake disorder. This is not something children want to do. They are not being naughty and most parents have tried everything so it’s not their fault.’