The 33-year-old has been suffering from anorexia for the past 15 years. She weighs just 60 pounds and desperately needs a feeding tube before she starves to death.
The only place she can get that is a hospital. But with a terrible backlog, she hasn't been able to gain access to a badly needed bed. And time is running out.
The facilities say the earliest she can be admitted is October 20th. She worries she won't be here by then.
"I break bones a lot," the rail thin woman concedes. "I run out of energy. It is just not a very pleasant life."
When Tory MPP Flank Klees took up her cause and presented her case to the Legislature, Lori's hopes soared. He sought out Liberal Health Minister George Smitherman, who met with the family and promised to help in any way he could.
He vowed to call the next day. But the family is still waiting.
"I talked to my dad this afternoon," she noted on Friday. "He heard nothing. I heard nothing ... I'm worried that the longer it takes, the harder it will be to come back."
Lori claims she's prepared to wait another week for her admission. But after that, she's not sure if she'll still be here when her opening finally comes up.
And she can't wait on promises or guarantees - the only thing she's been given now.
How Can You Tell If A Loved-One Has Anorexia?
But the very secrecy that surrounds the syndrome makes specific numbers hard to come by.
By now, many of its effects are well known: a pre-occupation with dieting and thinness leads to excessive weight loss.
The fear of getting fat - while at the same time continually becoming thinner, often dangerously so - often masks other underlying psychological problems.
Untreated, the disorder can lead to serious health problems and in some cases, death. And it doesn't seem to discriminate by social status - the disorder's most famous victim is Karen Carpenter, whose death from chronic heart failure in 1983 was the result of literally starving herself.
The Symptoms
Here's watch to watch for if you suspect someone you know is suffering from Anorexia Nervosa:
- Significant Weight Loss
- Continuing to diet although thin
- Feeling fat, even after losing weight
- Intense fear of weight gain
- Loss of monthly menstrual periods
- Preoccupation with food, calories, fat contents & nutrition
- Preferring to diet in isolation
- Hair loss
- Cold hands and feet
- Fainting spells
- Compulsive exercising
- Lying about food
- Depression, anxiety
- Weakness, exhaustion
- Periods of hyperactivity
- Constipation
- Heart tremors
- Dry, brittle skin
- Shortness of breath
The Consequences
- Shrunken organs
- Bone mineral loss, which can lead to osteoporosis
- Low body temperature
- Low blood pressure
- Slowed metabolism and reflexes
- Irregular heartbeat, which can lead to cardiac arrest
A combination of counselling and medical treatments is used to help sufferers overcome their fear of weight gain, and resume eating normally. But it often takes years.