When you see commercials and print ads about celebrating life in terms of 'more birthdays', they are usually advertising hospitals with new cancer treatment methods or prescription drugs for physical illnesses. In mainstream media, you rarely see anything celebrating those fighting mental illnesses. You can't open a magazine and see a glossy ad with a smiling face and the caption "Thanks to Prozac, I'm celebrating another year around the sun", because depression, like any mental illness, is still taboo. But if there were such ads, clinical depression would most likely be the main subject. We will probably never see an ad for an eating disorder treatment or advocacy organization honoring "more birthdays where 'cake guilt' doesn't exist". If there was a list proclaiming the top five most taboo mental illnesses, I'd bet eating disorders would rank among the highest.

But this year, I'm celebrating another year of freedom from the suffocating grip of anorexia nervosa, the mental illness with the highest mortality rate. On Saturday, March 12, I will turn eighteen. If I had not received treatment for my eating disorder when I was diagnosed in 2009, I would not have made it to twelve. Fortunately, my parents intervened just in the nick of time, and treatment was accessible to me. This is not the case for everyone. Some individuals suffer in silence and pass away before getting help. Others are ready and willing to recover, which is an extremely challenging, momentous step in itself, but are unable to afford adequate treatment. Not every insurance company covers hospitalizations, therapy, nutrition counseling, or stays at treatment centers for patients suffering from eating disorders. That is why Project HEAL exists. Founded in 2008 by two then-teenagers Liana Rosenman and Kristina Saffran, the organization has sent 41 applicants in need to treatment through grants. I became involved with the nonprofit in 2013, a year after completing my own treatment. I started a chapter in my hometown of San Jose that has raised over $6,000 for the grant fund through bake sales, T-shirt sales, and most notably, a benefit concert with the tagline "A night where music can truly save lives". This year, I've set aside a special date for the second annual Rock Out for Recovery concert: my birthday.

The fundraiser, which will be held March 12 at the San Jose Woman's Club in downtown San Jose, will not only be a celebration of the HEALing power of music, but also of Project HEAL's work itself. Thanks to the organization's program, 41 individuals are able to enjoy more birthdays where they are not only alive in the physical sense, but truly living and loving themselves. Birthdays where pizza and takeout are not enemies to be conquered, but favorite meals to be savored. Birthdays where gifts feel deserved and fancy outfits for the occasion bring smiles in the mirror, instead of shame. Birthdays where 'Treat yo self' is a motto they can stand by with pride.

If you are in the area and would like to join me and the San Jose chapter for this event featuring LindaMar, End the Fight, Tony Geravesh of Stickup Kid, Nothing Planned, and Telephono, tickets are currently on sale at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rock-out-for-recovery-tickets-20666911288. You can also purchase them at the door, $20 for students and $25 for general admission. Join me in celebrating another year stronger and ED-free by raising money so that others can do the same.