Lisa Curry’s heartbreaking new plea 5 years after daughter Jaimi’s death

"I have to be able to use [my voice] for the good." And now she needs your help, too. 

Five years ago, Lisa Curry suffered what could only be described as a nightmare. She lost her daughter to mental illness and eating disorders and just 18 months later, lost her mother as well.  

Now, she’s at the forefront of a new appeal, encouraging volunteers to take part in a unique study to make a difference in the future of the mental health space.

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Lisa Curry's daughter, Jaimi, died at 33 years old. Image: Instagram.

RELATED: Lisa Curry’s beautiful tribute to daughter Jaimi

“Make this a priority in your scientific mind”

In September 2020, Lisa Curry lost her daughter Jaimi at age 33, following a long battle with mental illness, self harm, and eating disorders.

Two years later, the former Olympian recalled the moment she and former partner, Grant Kenny, received a call to come to the hospital urgently in her memoir ‘Lisa: A Memoir – 60 years of life, love & loss’.

“When we got there, she was unconscious and on a ventilator,” she wrote.

“I ran to her and called softly, 'Jaimi, Jaimi, it’s Mum. Open your eyes, baby, open your eyes. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.' But there was no response, there was just nothing. I was numb.

“While we were there, her kidneys shut down. And that’s when the doctor said in a matter-of-fact tone, 'Jaimi will die tonight'.

“And hearing those words, I was sobbing. 'No, no, no, I’m not ready!' Even though we’d known for years this time would come, we didn’t want it to be real.”

Jaimi had struggled with eating disorders for 18 years, ultimately leading Lisa to become an advocate in the mental health space, aiming to help ‘all the Jaimi’s’.

“We put men on the moon, people live in space stations, build the biggest ships and the tallest buildings that sway in the storms, the most brilliant scientific minds can solve incredible diseases, robots and machines are designed to help people walk again…but we can’t work out how to fix mental health issues?” she pleaded in an emotional tribute to Instagram in 2022.

“Someone … please… make this a priority in your scientific mind. Please. Help all the Jaimi's in this world.”

Now, she’s doing just that.

Lisa and Jamie. Image: Instagram.

RELATED: Lisa Curry Speaks about daughter Jaimi's red flags

“I have to be able to use [my voice] for the good”

Lisa has officially announced that she’s leading the appeal for volunteers to take part in a unique study by Queensland researchers into eating disorders.

"I have to be able to use [my voice] for the good," she said on 9News.

The study will be aiming to identify the genetic risk of developing an eating disorder from birth.

Saliva samples from volunteers will be brought to a DNA facility at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) Berghofer, where the samples are put into machines to identify genetic markers. Hundreds of genes are expected to be pinpointed, up from the eight currently known.

QIMR Berghofer researcher Professor Nick Martin said that although you might not know it, there is actually a large genetic component to eating disorders.

"It's not your fault, it's just the luck of the draw," Martin said.

"By finding all these genes we can actually develop what's called a polygenic risk score, so we can actually tell people from the time of birth or even before."

The study is in need of more than 4000 Australian volunteers, or up to 100,000 worldwide.

For more information, visit edgi2.org.au.

Originally published as Lisa Curry’s heartbreaking new plea 5 years after daughter Jaimi’s death