A footballer hospitalised with anorexia has said watching her former teammates win the Euros with the Lionesses helped her beat the eating disorder.
Maddie Blackburn, 23, was in hospital for her eating disorder when she tuned in to see previous colleagues Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone beat Germany.
She said it was ‘surreal’ watching them on TV while she was in hospital – and told how it also kickstarted her into recovery, prompting her to try gaining weight.
Now Maddie is in recovery from the illness and is even back training with a local women’s football team, while hoping to study football coaching at university.
She said: ‘I played football since I was very little so it was quite surreal watching them play on TV in front of thousands of people while I was just sat in hospital.
Maddie Blackburn, seen here in training at her local ground Padham in Lancashire, has told of being inspired by former Lionesses teammates in her recovery from anorexia
England won the women’s European Championship final against Germany at Wembley in July 2022, with star performers including Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone
Young footballer Maddie Blackburn spent several spells in hospital being treated for the eating disorder, including during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown which restricted family visits
‘I just thought, “What am I actually doing with my life?”
‘It was an eye-opener because I had been in hospital for around seven months at that point – I thought that I either need to help myself or I wouldn’t even up recovering.
‘I think with anorexia, you can have all the help and support in the world but it’s you that needs to choose to eat.
‘I think I needed something to motivate me, but it was always going to be football because I played for years and years – then I think the Euros changed everything really.’
After she started losing weight, Ms Blackburn’s mother took her to the doctors and she was eventually admitted to Cheadle Royal Hospital’s eating disorder unit in 2021.
The footballer was there for six months in 2021, before relapsing and returning the following year.
But now she has begun training with a local women’s football team.
She said: ‘I want to start playing back to the level I was a few years ago, but I think it’s going to take quite a while because I’ve not got my strength back yet.
Maddie Blackburn struggled during her recovery from anorexia but now says she is feeling stronger and has returned to football – taking up coaching with a local team
Maddie, from Whalley in Lancashire, has praised Lionesses star Alessia Russo for ‘opening up’ about her own struggles with body image and food issues
The 23-year-old now hopes to help and ‘inspire’ others struggling with similar difficulties as she returns to the game after receiving hospital treatment
‘I think I’m quite shocked I’m playing again because I didn’t expect to be in this position.
‘I thought I would be in and out of hospital constantly, even though I didn’t want that, but anorexia is one of the hardest illnesses to recover from.
‘I kind of just accepted that was going to be me for the rest of my life, but I can say now that it’s not.’
She described how ‘awful’ it was to only be able to see her family during a hospital ward window during the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdown restrictions – and how ‘it wasn’t a very helpful environment’.
Ms Blackburn, from Whalley in Lancashire, added: “It’s the weirdest experience I’ll ever go through – unless you’ve been there yourself, then you don’t know how to describe it.
‘You’re surrounded by other poorly people so you are being triggered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
‘It’s loud and full of alarms and there’s people who are in completely different stages of their recovery – you could get someone who is due to be discharged soon – but then you can get someone who has just come in so they are really poorly.
‘For me, it just wasn’t a very helpful environment to be in.
‘There wasn’t really any visits during Covid – if they were any visits then it was just threw a window and it was awful.’
England reached last year’s World Cup final where goalkeeper Mary Earps saved a penalty from Spain’s Jennifer Hermoso although the Lionesses went down to a 1-0 defeat
Earps was last month named BBC Sports Personality Of The Year, winning the prize a year after Lionesses teammate Beth Mead was given the 2022 award
England and Arsenal star Alessia Russo opened up earlier this year about her battles with ‘wanting to be skinny’ and the impact it had on her football performances..
And Ms Blackburn says she related to the 24-year-old’s comments, describing her honesty as ‘important’.
She said: ‘Alessia Russo opened up not that long ago about how she struggled with body image and food issues in lockdown.
‘I think she said when she started playing football after lockdown, she got injured straight away and that made her realise she had to eat more – it’s the same for me really.
‘It’s important that people like her open up – it inspired me to open up so it could inspire hundreds of people to talk about it.’
England’s Lionesses beat Germany at Wembley in the European Championship final in July 2022, thanks to a winning goal by Chloe Kelly.
The side went on to reach last year’s World Cup final, losing 1-0 to Spain – though goalkeeper Mary Earps’ penalty save during the match helped her towards being voted BBC Sports Personality Of The Year last month.
Earps was among three Lionesses stars in the latest New Year’s Honours list.