A 22-year-old model from Perth has shared a confronting photo of herself taken after a suicide attempt to urge men and women struggling with depression to seek help.
Lara Kitchen, who was diagnosed with Alopecia aerata at 14 and lost all of her hair, battled depression and anorexia throughout her teenage years.
But instead of seeking help for her struggles, the young woman attempted to take her own life twice and in 2015, was admitted to the ICU and placed in an induced coma.
'I'm going to share something very personal. This photo was taken whilst I was in ICU in a coma having a breathing machine doing my breathing whilst my body tried to heal from trying to end my own life,' Ms Kitchen wrote on Monday.
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Lara Kitchen, who was diagnosed with Alopecia aerata and lost all of her hair in her teenage years battled depression and anorexia as a result
The 22-year-old model from Perth shared this confronting photo of herself taken after a suicide attempt to urge men and women struggling with depression to seek help
'I saw nothing for my life, I didn't want to be alive anymore, I hated every part of making it through this coma. I saw nothing of my life.
'After coming out of this coma I was moved to a high dependency ward because I was still very sick and weak. During this time I had a 1:1 nurse and even though at the time I didn't see or want to believe anything she said.'
Ms Kitchen said her nurse would constantly remind her that 'God needed me to stay on this earth' and described her as her 'first main support after waking up'.
'She believed that I deserved life, she helped me gain the strength to walk again,' she recalled.
'I saw nothing for my life, I didn't want to be alive anymore, I hated every part of making it through this coma. I saw nothing of my life,' she said (pictured in 2017 with and without her wig)
Ms Kitchen said that if the 2015 version of her knew her now, 'she wouldn't want to die'.
'My family f*****g loves me, and it would have broken them all if I didn't make it,' she said.
'That's just part of the story, but what I'm trying to get at is how important your life is. You are so worthy of life. People love and believe in you. You're strong beyond words.
'I can't emphasise enough that someone will always listen if you speak up. I know for me I wish I had spoken up before ending up where I was. Breaking my family's hearts. PLEASE don't let yourself get to where I was, seek help, your (sic) worthy of help, it's okay to speak up!'
'My family f*****g loves me, and it would have broken them all if I didn't make it,' she said
'That's just part of the story, but what I'm trying to get at is how important your life is. You are so worthy of life. People love and believe in you. You're strong beyond words,' she said
Speaking to FEMAIL, Ms Kitchen said she started to lose her hair right before high school and after receiving her diagnosis, she struggled with her mental health as she attempted to accept it.
'I thought it was due to stress but it became worse to the point where it was coming out in clumps,' she said.
'It started to fall out from my hair line and it gradually went up all the way. I hid it for months and would wear a headband to try and hide it from the people at school.
After seeing four doctors, a specialist told her she had Alopecia areata and that while the hair follicles were there, her hair was never likely to grow back.
'I can't emphasise enough that someone will always listen if you speak up. I know for me I wish I had spoken up before ending up where I was,' she said
Ms Kitchen internalised the diagnosis and did not properly acknowledge it until she left school.
'When I was in year eight people would stare and I had anxiety so going to school was a big effort,' Ms Kitchen said.
'Then rumours started going around that I had cancer because people relate hair loss with cancer basically. That was what got me the most because I wasn't sick... it was that my body was just attacking itself and I didn't know how to cope with that.'
Ms Kitchen told two friends about her Alopecia, who went with her to get her first wig.
Ms Kitchen has shared this image video of herself in 2016 without a wig to encourage women to embrace themselves and accept their imperfections
'They made me feel so comfortable. It was so terrifying because I didn't want to accept that I had to wear a wig,' she said.
Ms Kitchen was later diagnosed with anorexia and depression.
'They stemmed it back to when I lost my hair. Because I couldn't control what my body was doing itself I grasped on to being able to control my weight,' she explained.
'When I left high school I started to think about what had been going on and started to develop quite severe depression. I spent most of 2014 in a private mental health clinic because I wasn't dealing with it all.
'Then rumours started going around that I had cancer because people relate hairloss with cancer basically. That was what got me the most because I wasn't sick,' she said
'In July of 2015 I wasn't coping at all and got to my lowest point and majorly overdosed on prescription medicines. I was in the ICU for four days in an induced coma.'
But a miracle saw Ms Kitchen come out of it 100 per cent healthy and with a new take on life.
'Doctors don't know how to explain how someone who was fighting for their life basically has come out so completely fine,' Ms Kitchen said.
'Something clicked after that because I was given a second chance at life. I'm in the modelling industry which places a lot of pressure on girls and I was like "you know what maybe this is why I was given that chance".
Ms Kitchen was diagnosed with anorexia and struggled with her mental health
'I want to show people of any age that they need to embrace what isn't perfect about them. That they need to embrace what is different. I am bald and that's what my imperfection is, just like others think they have a wonky nose or don't like their eye colour.'
Ms Kitchen hopes to spread her positive message as far as possible.
To help her do it, she previously decided to do a video with Francesca from Freedom Couture, where she posed without her wig on.
'Doing this was the scariest thing I have ever done and Francesca had wanted to do something with me for three years. But I never wanted people to know what I was hiding.'
'I wasn't coping at all and got to my lowest point and majorly overdosed on prescription medicines. I was in the ICU for four days in an induced coma,' she said
'But I realised I wanted to show girls that it's okay to wear a wig if you've lost your hair, just like it's okay not to!'
Ms Kitchen said it's empowering to know it's out in the open and to know that it's nothing to be ashamed of.
'I don't see it as being brave, it's something I wanted to do to help other people. I want others to know that I've posted this to show I am supportive of what girls like me are going through,' she said.
'Please talk about it. Even though it's so, so scary just talk to your friends and don't internalise it. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and it has nothing to do with you.
'There's always going to be someone trying to bring you down but speaking is the most important thing,' she said
'There's always going to be someone trying to bring you down but speaking is the most important thing. Even just calling one of the hotlines out there and talking it out makes a huge difference.
'Above all, embrace it. Love yourself and embrace every single imperfection.'
If you need help or support for an eating disorder or body image issue, please call Butterfly's National Helpline on 1800 334 673 or e-mail support@thebutterflyfoundation.org.au
For confidential help with depression or anxiety call Lifeline at 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.
For confidential help with depression or anxiety for those specifically between 5 and 25, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 anytime.
Link articlehttps://hienalouca.com/2018/09/11/model-22-shares-confronting-photo-of-herself-fighting-for-life-following-a-suicide-attempt/
Main photo article A 22-year-old model from Perth has shared a confronting photo of herself taken after a suicide attempt to urge men and women struggling with depression to seek help.
Lara Kitchen, who was diagnosed with Alopecia aerata at 14 and lost all of her hair, battled depression and anorexia throughout...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Femail HienaLouca
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