A Cambridge First for the anorexic girl given just hours to live

After graduating from Cambridge University with a starred First Class degree, Mandy Kaye has the world at her feet.

She achieved the highest possible grade, the only student in her faculty to do so.

But she has faced much more than an academic challenge. Just weeks after starting her course she was forced to quit because of her battle with anorexia.

Weighing less than five stone and surviving on a diet of coffee, cherry tomatoes and apples, she was told by doctors she had only hours to live.

Miss Kaye, of Southgate, North London, fought her way back to health and last month received her top degree.

'This is a completely new beginning and I can't see myself turning back,' she said.

'If I ever have a wobble, I only need to look at those photos of me five years ago. I never want to look like that again.'

Miss Kaye, 25, first succumbed to anorexia during her GCSEs in 1999.

'I was studying really hard and wasn't looking after myself properly,' she said. 'As a result, I lost weight, and I really liked the way I looked.

'For me, anorexia was never about thinking I was fat  -  instead, I think a part of me didn't want to grow up.'

Although her efforts saw her achieve straight As at GCSE, her weight dropped from 8st7lb to 7st 7lb, half a stone below the healthy range for her 5ft 3in frame.

She said: 'I was diagnosed with anorexia and admitted to a clinic for children with eating disorders.

'But I didn't think there was anything wrong with me. I stayed a month before insisting my parents let me come home.'

Miss Kaye gained three As at A-level and won a place to study geography and educational studies at Homerton College, Cambridge.

However, her parents, Alan, an accountant, and Ros, a nursery teacher, were reluctant for her to go in case her eating disorder reappeared. She deferred her place for a year  -  but her anorexia worsened.

Mandy had been surviving on a diet of coffee, tomatoes and apples

'Without my studies to occupy me, I started to focus solely on my weight,' she said. 'My weight plummeted to just 5st 7lb.'

Using private health insurance, she started seeing Deborah Meddes, a therapist at London's Capio Nightingale Hospital. She managed to gain a stone and went
up to Cambridge in October 2003. But within a month, she weighed less than five stone.

She said: 'I would drink coffee all day, then at midnight I'd have a handful of cherry tomatoes and two apples. I was terrified of food.'

The Cambridge student photographed at her lowest weight of five stone

In November 2003 her therapist refused to let her return to university and told her that she would be sectioned if she didn't agree to be admitted to hospital.

Miss Kaye said: 'The doctor there said I was so ill that I could drop dead in the night.

'My parents arrived and seeing my mum's face was my wake-up call. I finally realised how sick I was and felt determined to get better.'

She stayed in hospital for a month until her weight increased to 5st7lb. But it was not until nearly two years later in October 2005 that she reached 6st7lb and was able to return to Cambridge.

'My parents would drive up twice a week to see if I was OK,' she said.

'But I started to get better and socialise a little. I went up to seven stone. The real turning point came when I met my boyfriend, Elliot Brent this January. He constantly told me I was beautiful, and gave me so much confidence.'

Even so, Miss Kaye  -  who is still almost a stone below her target weight of eight stone  -  remained convinced her personal battles would cause her to receive a 2:2.

She said: 'I was completely shocked when I realised I'd come top. I cried with joy. Now, I'm just concentrating on the future  -  and I have plans to become a therapist.'