Son Of Former Red Sox Pitcher Speaks Of Anorexia Struggles

It’s not often that stories of male athletes with eating disorders are publicly shared, especially when these athletes are in the public eye.

But Gehrig Schilling, son of former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, is speaking openly about hia battle with anorexia – which started when he was in middle school.

He weighed a mere 78 pounds in the 8th grade. His mother, Shonda, noticed that his eating patterns had changed and she was able to get Gehrig to the doctor for a diagnosis.

“I was actually pretty close to being put on a feeding tube for a while,” Gehrig told the Boston Globe. “I had to ease back in and eat a lot of protein in order to get my weight back up,” he said.

The road to recovery

Gehrig credits his recovery to the process of working with and helping other young people with eating disorders.

“It’s been really neat to see him be honest with people about what had happened, and talk to other people and be able to be a mentor,” his mother said.

Good advice from his father, too, has given him some perspective, Gehrig said.

“He told me, ‘You don’t always have your best stuff.’ He said initially it’s really hard to get back into the game, but you gotta roll with the punches and then deal with what’s going on, what the reality of the game is, and just pick each other up as teammates.”

The Schilling family has faced many health hurdles: both of Gehrig’s parents have battled cancer and his younger brother Grant reportedly has Asperger syndrome.

Source: Boston Globe
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