“I WAS so ill I couldn't even climb the stairs, now I'm climbing a mountain."

Those are the inspiring words of a New Inn woman who has battled with anorexia since childhood and is now raising money for charity.

Claire Greaves, 22, is preparing to climb 886 metres up Pen y Fan, covering four miles with friend Julie Jeffrey to raise money for Beat, a UK charity for people with eating disorders.

This is something that she never thought possible after battling anorexia since the age of five, which saw her hospitalised for two months in August last year after her weight fell dangerously low.

“It was my idea to do the climb for the charity’s Sock It To Eating Disorders Day on February 27 as every year I want to do something but I’m always too ill”, she explained.

“But this year, I wanted to do something that represented my journey with my condition, as overcoming it has been one of my biggest treks so climbing a mountain seemed fitting.”

In preparation she has been covering one to two hour walks.

“I’m confident that I will complete it”, she added.

Completing the task will be no mean feat for the young woman who described how at times her muscles were so weak with malnutrition that doctors would advise her not to walk or go out of the hospital ward.

“Even if I had been allowed I'm not sure my body would've handled it” she said.

Miss Greaves wants to raise awareness of eating disorders describing it as “a living nightmare” and that others who suffer with the condition will find hope in her story.

She explained: “Anorexia is painful. There were times I would cry at the aches and cramps in my leg muscles, and the cold is unbearable with your bones feeling like ice packs.”

She also struggled with binge eating after throwing herself head first into recovery and “extreme hunger” would kick in.

“I would wake up and have a bowl of cereal and then another and another and then I would go around the kitchen and eat and eat until there was nothing left”, she explained.

“There were days I would go to the shop and buy as many chocolate bars and biscuits as I could afford and I would eat it all.

“I didn't enjoy them or taste them, I'd bite my cheeks and scratch my throat. It all happened in a very scary, manic manner.”

She said her obsession made her distant and cold, and while many people believe that the condition is the symptom of people wanting to look thin and fashionable, she explained that it is not a choice.

She said: “It is a severe psychiatric illnesses, it is not a choice. When I was at my worse, I didn't care about fashion because I was too cold and weak, I wrapped up in whatever layers I could find.

“Nails, hair, skin- it all ends up damaged and disgusting because your body can't keep them healthy, it can barely keep your heart healthy. My condition led me to total despair and there were times when I felt the only way out was to die.”

She explained how her two months in hospital made her reflect on her behaviour with her deciding that there was “more to life than worrying about food”.

“Being in hospital was hard, I've been an inpatient seven times now and it never gets easier”, she said.

“Spending months in a room, missing home and freedom and your belongings- what a waste of life, to spend it locked up in a psychiatric ward.”

The challenge has given her an aim and is it helping her struggle through recovery, with her maintaining a healthy weight and working with a dietician to achieve her goal.

“Recovery is hard, I still struggle. I still feel guilt when I eat certain foods and it's horrible. But I just have to keep on going,” she added.

“Recovery feels like climbing a mountain; you can't always see the peak, but it's there, and the climb is difficult and you may have to pause and take breaks on the way up, but it is possible.”

To sponsor Miss Greaves visit www.justgiving.com/climbED/