Picking Up the Pieces with Linda and Jack Mazur

 

Episode 81 - Picking Up the Pieces with Linda and Jack Mazur

by Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS

In this episode, I am joined by authors, parents, and advocates, Linda and Jack Mazur. After losing their daughter Emilee in 2016 at the age of 35 years old to her eating disorder, Linda and Jack embarked on the heartbreaking journey of sharing Emilee’s story. After publishing “Emilee: The Story of a Girl and Her Family Hijacked by Anorexia,” they began to advocate for eating disorder funding, education, and research. Their advocacy work includes spreading awareness, understanding, and compassion, for individuals who suffer from anorexia, eating disorders, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, and all mental illnesses has become Linda and Jack's passion. They believe “Emilee” has the potential to improve treatment and insurance coverage, change policy, and they hope it will help to erase the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness. In addition, Linda and Jack host the podcast Once Shattered: Picking Up the Pieces and will be launching a family member support community beginning in November.

SOME OF THE TOPICS DISCUSSED:

  • The loss of the Mazur’s daughter Emilee’s to her eating disorder

  • Linda and Jack’s journey while writing Emilee’s memoir “Emilee: The Story of a Girl and Her Family Hijacked by Anorexia”

  • Eating disorder mortality rates

  • The financial cost that eating disorders cost the economy

  • The importance of providers getting to know the whole client, not just the eating disorder

  • Why society needs to improve how they acknowledge eating disorders and mental illness

  • How HIPAA laws, that were designed to protect people, can have the opposite effect

  • Recognizing the time it can take for someone to recover from an eating disorder varies and everyone deserves a chance

  • Creating your own system when the system fails you

ABOUT JACK & LINDA MAZUR:

In 2016, Linda and John began a labor of love, writing to honor their daughter's wish to have her story told in the hope it might help someone else. Their memoir "Emilee: The Story of a Girl and Her Family Hijacked by Anorexia," was born in late 2019 and chronicles the heartbreaking journey of Emilee and her family. Spreading awareness, understanding, and compassion, for individuals who suffer from anorexia, eating disorders, alcohol use disorder, substance use disorder, and all mental illnesses has become Linda and Jack's passion. They believe that “Emilee” has the potential to improve treatment and insurance coverage, change policy, and they hope it will help to erase the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness.

Together, Linda and Jack serve on the community advisory board for the Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders. They advocate for comprehensive treatment for eating disorders, improved insurance coverage, funding, and research, in Rochester, New York, in Albany, New York, and in Washington, D.C. They also serve on the Rochester Regional Homecare and Hospice Advisory Committee. Linda and Jack co-host the podcast, Once Shattered: Picking Up the Pieces, with fellow advocate Ellen Bennett.

John “Jack” Mazur, RPh graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy. He has been employed as a pharmacist in various capacities, serving the Rochester community for over forty years. Jack is a former member of The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and a past board member for The Pharmacy Society of Rochester.

Linda Mazur, LPC, RMT, graduated from Coiffures International, obtained her cosmetology license, and became a small business owner, opening Choice Cuts Salon. Linda later earned her certification as a Reiki Master Practitioner and Teacher. Choice Cuts evolved into Natural Choice Salon and Reiki Studio. Linda has been serving the Rochester community for over thirty-five years. Linda volunteers as a caring companion for adults with eating disorders at Strong Memorial Hospital and she privately volunteers her time encouraging and supporting adults and families who are affected by eating disorders.

About Emilee: The Story of a Girl and Her Family Hijacked by Anorexia - Linda and Jack Mazur were blessed with two precious children, Emilee and Matthew. For a time, they led a happy, ordinary life in Penfield, New York. Linda began her own small business and Jack was employed as a pharmacist. Life proceeded as they assumed it would. A few years later, their lives were hijacked and became anything but ordinary when Emilee developed a serious and misunderstood mental illness, one with the highest mortality rate outside of opioid addiction.

This is the story of a talented, beautiful, professional young woman, undermined by a ruthless inner voice that claimed her body and her spirit. Through the use of parallel narrative, Linda and John Mazur provide an intimate and realistic account of how their world was turned upside down by anorexia nervosa. Their story reveals the cracks in our health care system, the institutions we are taught to trust, as well as our own prejudices and misinformation about eating disorders, mental illness, and addiction. A must-read for all medical professionals and for anyone who wants to learn how to respond more compassionately to patients and families caught in the web of this cruel disease.

“We believe that by sharing our stories with each other we can learn new ways to support our loved ones and properly care for ourselves. Our hope is to establish a regularly offered get together in Rochester, NY that harnesses the power of community connection and peer support.”

The first community-based meeting to connect, support, and heal will begin Thursday, November 4th, 2021 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Spotted Rabbit Creative Arts Therapy located at 2376 Monroe Ave. Rochester NY 14618. Please email Linda and Jack to register.

ABOUT KARIN LEWIS:

Karin Lewis, MA, LMFT, CEDS has been recovered from Anorexia Nervosa for over 20 years and has been specializing in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders since 2005. Karin is the founder of the Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center located in Boston, MA. You can visit Karin Lewis Eating Disorder Center online to learn more about Karin and her center’s services. You can also connect with Karin on social media by following her on Facebook and Instagram.