A GAA and ex-Northern Ireland footballer has described how being weighed before a bungee jump shocked her into realising she was living with an eating disorder.
Armagh ladies footballer Aoife Lennon had travelled to New Zealand in 2017 for some personal time away from the sporting spotlight when she had her eyes opened to the extent of her condition.
The athlete, who also played soccer for Newry City Ladies and captained the squad during its Champions League campaign, has described her experience with anorexia in a new interview with BBC podcast The GAA Social.
She said the pain of losing her father John to suicide at the age of 13 had left her with unresolved grief, and as a result later developed an obsession with healthy eating and exercising.
She told podcast presenters Oisín McConville and Thomas Niblock how her father had boosted her sporting prowess when she was younger, and how losing him later affected her.
"I always had this unbelievable person at my side, and that was my dad. I had somebody who always wanted to support me," she explained.
Following his death at 52 after suffering depression, Aoife threw herself into Gaelic football and soccer, becoming one of the north's top female players in both sports.
She told the podcast that it was during her trip to New Zealand that she became aware an obsession with exercising and the fear of over-eating had developed into an eating disorder.
Aoife described how without GAA or soccer training to attend, she had a fear of being out of shape, and began eating less.
It was while taking part in a bungee jump that the extent of what she was doing to her body became clear.
When being weighed for the jump, she discovered she was just 53kg.
"I asked, 'could you weigh me again, because that's not right'," she said of her disbelief at how underweight she was.
"I was waking up and every day looking in the mirror going 'I have put on weight'."
A doctor in New Zealand diagnosed her with anorexia and advised her to travel back to Ireland immediately to avoid a long wait for treatment.
She described how the diagnosis was "the greatest relief" as "everything I was doing had come to a head".
"Finally there was a reason to stop this, that I had to deal with the anorexia and stop doing all this to myself," she said, adding that she realised her disorder was "like self-harm because of what I was doing to my body".
The footballer - who highlighted how men as well as women are being affected by anorexia - said she is now "in control" of her condition, adding: "I gave my power to the eating disorder for far too long and that made me sick.
"But I can't do that any more and can't see someone else go through that. That's my message for people. I want to help them. If I can do it, you can do it."