Tiffany Gallo - In Memoriam
This is the link to Tiffany's memorial video. I couldn't paste the video here.
Tiffany was born 5 weeks prematurely in 1987...on a beautiful hot spring day in March. She suffered no lasting trauma from this early arrival into the world although she did have a brief hospital stay for week when she was a year old. As a result of being in the hospital, she seemed to develop a fear of men in white coats and needles which she dealt with for many years.
But then things changed drastically at age 12. Somehow she discovered purging and from then until 24, she suffered from bulimia. Despite this struggle, she grew into a beautiful young lady. Never one to be without life goals, Tiffany received her masters, got a job as a tax accountant at a major accounting firm and earned her CPA license, all in a 2-year period. But all the while, underneath this facade of beauty and success, despair started to set in. Or maybe the despair had been there for a while. Perhaps as early as age 15.
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| First Day of Work |
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| CPA License |
In 2010, she sought treatment for her eating disorder with little success and later that same year, attempted suicide for the first time. She was ordered back into treatment for her eating disorder but found it hard to stick with it. She soon started back up with the cycle of binging, purging and overuse of alcohol along with the discovery of cutting; despair grew while hope that she would get better lessened. Tiffany was told by one mental health practitioner that she had already tried all the drugs possible for her problem and the practitioner had none to recommend. So she was basically told to go home, dance and smell the roses. Who can blame her if she thought she was never going to get better?
I tried to help and support her but it was very difficult, if not impossible, for her to accept. I really thought she might be getting better from the reports I received from her doctors and the events of the night she died were no worse than many other times in her life as I've said. Although I think there were some people in her life at that time, as there had been along the way, who didn't understand the demons she fought and who made her life miserable and impossible in Stamford. Maybe there were things that happened during that Friday, an action or an event that I will never know about or that other people know about but have never mentioned or come forward with. But to this day, I will never know why she had to go, why she did what she did.
However, based on all I know now and what I now realize that I knew for a few years before she died, I am convinced that she had Borderline Personality Disorder. It would explain so much of her later life, the symptoms she experienced, the problems she faced. I knew she wasn't Bi-Polar because she didn't have manic highs...she was mostly low...really low. I'm just not sure why there was never a definitive diagnosis, at least none that I am aware of or that I was privvy to, other than that she had an eating disorder.
It is now 2 years, 9 months since Tiffany took her life. So often it has been hell on earth since her departure from this world. A life made surreal by her absence. I miss her with every fiber of my being. The pain does soften slightly with time then sometime comes back with a vengeance, but never, not ever, goes away...
Notables
• People with eating disorders are at increased risk of deliberate self-harm
• Depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance problems often accompany eating disorders
• Binging and purging are associated with higher risk of deliberate self-injury
• A comprehensive mental health evaluation is an essential component of evaluating and treating people with eating disorders
Not All Eating Disorders Are the Same (When It Comes to Deliberate Self-Harm)
From the American Association for Suicide Prevention
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