Meet the woman who hasn't eaten for a year (photos)

Beverley Duffy's 24-year-old daughter Emma has battled the condition for 16 years - and now relies on liquid nutrition through a tube. 

She has today released harrowing images of her daughter to highlight the horrific effect the disease can have.

Emma began to suffer from the condition after a teacher called her classmate fat when she was just eight years old.

Her mother says her problems began when she was just eight and she overheard a dance teacher saying one of the other girls would never make it as a dancer because she was too overweight.

Her family claim the throwaway comment marked as the start of a long battle against anorexia

Harrowing images released by Emma's family show her being tube fed, such is the deterioration in her condition. She has not eaten food for over a year

But Mrs Duffy says she knew nothing of her daughter's eating disorder until she was 18, when she finally confessed. 

She said: 'I think she must have been so sick of me blaming myself for her illness that she wanted to let me know it wasn't my fault.

'But any mother would blame themselves if their daughter ended up like Emma - it's only natural. 'She told me that her and a friend heard the comment about another pupil and instantly started watching what they ate.

'But watching what they eat, for Emma, soon turned into an illness, which completely ruled her life. 'It's heartbreaking, the whole situation.'

She added: 'People have said to me "I wouldn't let my child be anorexic, I'd make them eat" and all the rest of it.

'But what they don't realise is that you can watch them eat - and Emma did used to eat - but you can't watch them when they throw it all up again.

Emma three years ago before signs of her eating disorder. Her mother says she also suffers from a personality disorder and has tried to commit suicide nine times

'Emma was very good at convincing us she was eating properly.'

The former student from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, has been repeatedly sectioned under the Mental Health Act as she suffers from borderline personality disorder, her mother said.

Mrs Duffy added: 'We have hope, and believe that she will get better. But even now we don't know the full story. 

'It's like a million piece jigsaw, and we have only filled the first line in. It's a mental illness. It's not just about eating.

To support the Save Emma campaign, go to www.facebook.com/savingemmaduffy or
visit www.gofundme.com/6osnlw.