Sky Sports star grateful for Jeff Stelling support as she speaks out | Other | Sport

Fixed at the top of Abigail Davies’ X feed is a powerful video featuring an impassioned speech from Jeff Stelling. During one of his final appearances as host of Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday in May 2023, Stelling used his platform to shed light on the “national disgrace” of inadequate government funding and awareness for eating disorder sufferers.

Stelling was inspired to speak out by colleague Davies, who has battled anorexia since childhood and came close to losing her life to the condition. Her love for Swansea City, fostered by her uncle taking her to matches, and watching Soccer Saturday played a pivotal role in her self-discovery beyond her eating disorder.

“When I was in my hospital bed on a psychiatric ward, I’d write match reports, just for myself. It was that dream of hearing him throw to me at a game that I was clinging to,” said the sports reporter in an interview for Reach’s 2025 darts preview publication.

“To not only realise that dream but to have your sporting idol be passionate about the other cause that is so close to your heart meant everything to me.”

Davies knows of the significant strides still needed to ensure those struggling with eating disorders receive the necessary support. She is resolute in utilising her own experiences and platform to drive change, declaring: “Aside from my love of sport, the biggest passion in my life is fighting for mental health equality.

“I’m continuing the campaign and fight for better access to treatment. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. Yet, people living with eating disorders are constantly let down.

“I almost lost my life on a number of occasions and, unfortunately, have lost friends who were battling anorexia. It’s an illness which makes you feel unworthy and a burden.

“Those feelings are reinforced by the shoddy, and for some non-existent, help available. I know what it’s like to reach a point of hopelessness and emptiness, to the point where I’ve tried to end things.”

Following a relapse last year that nearly saw her hospitalised ahead of the 2024 World Darts Championship, Davies is now thankfully in a better, although she acknowledges that anorexia is something she will always have to manage.

Davies, alongside Hope Virgo of the Dump the Scales initiative, has already taken her concerns to Parliament, campaigning tirelessly to shine a spotlight on the plight of thousands deprived of necessary care.

“We’ve been to Parliament to try and make eating disorders more of a priority, to gain more funding, improve access to treatment and re-enforce the message that early intervention is key,” she explained.

As a young girl, she was shockingly denied treatment because her weight wasn’t low enough, while some sufferers are now being offered palliative care. She recalled: “I was told to return once I’d lost more weight which resulted in me almost dying, both from attempted suicide and my body shutting down because of organs failing.

“That’s why I believe I will live with anorexia for the rest of my life. I relapsed last year and just avoided another hospital admission. When I had treatment, it was a stark realisation that access to treatment hadn’t come on that much since I initially needed it when I was 12/13.

“I went to my GP and told him I’d lost my period and that my body was shutting down. He just laughed and said, ‘you sure you’re not pregnant?’

“I was fortunate enough to be able to go private last year. I was raised in a very working-class family and we wouldn’t have been able to afford private treatment back then. There are so many people in that same position, and they’re left to fend for themselves and live with this devastating illness until they are a severe risk.

“Now palliative care is being offered to eating disorder sufferers. It goes from ‘you’re not ill enough to receive treatment’ to ‘you’re now too ill to receive treatment so we’ll give you palliative care’. I find it distressing that it’s been offered.

“Had that been the case when I was at my worst, I wouldn’t be here now because I would have taken it. It’s an illness that grinds you down and makes you feel completely worthless.

“Eating disorders have been pushed to one side for too long. We’re fighting to make sure more lives aren’t lost and so people can regain a quality of life a lot sooner and not go through the trauma that many of us have experienced.”

If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch.