Robb Evans's teenage daughter had been battling an illness with a high mortality rate for a year, but he did not realise its deadliness until the stakes were aired aloud for the first time.
"She has a terminal illness," doctors had told Mr Evans.
The father knew things were bleak as his daughter had been hospitalised for anorexia nervosa and her health and mental state were deteriorating.
But hearing the word "terminal" was earth-shattering.
"The doctor had said to us that if this doesn't change in this [hospital admission] then she's not going to be here for the next one," he said.
Liv died last month aged 15.
It is estimated that more than one million Australians are living with an eating disorder but advocates warn only a fraction of sufferers are being treated. Young women and girls are over-represented.
The federal government on Monday announced $70 million in new funding to tackle the scourge.
It said it had listened to the experiences of people with eating disorders and part of the money would go towards improving training for health professionals, and more support for patients once they were discharged from hospital.
The government said an expert panel was also working on a set of recommendations that would see $50 million of the package spent on research grants.
Health Minister Mark Butler said it was "in response to the recent decline in the mental health of children and the rise in self-harm and eating disorders".
Hospitals ill-equipped, father blamed
After losing his youngest daughter, Mr Evans said it was clear that the services set up to help Liv were inadequate to deal with the magnitude and complexity of the issue.
"And if the professionals can't find the solution, they kind of look to blame," he said.
"I run a health and fitness business, and because of that, I was accused of being the cause of her anorexia — by more than one professional."
"Thankfully, my daughter knew differently and she said, 'You're like one of the only advocates for me to eat properly and healthily and help support me'," Mr Evans said.
He added that the hospital was often a traumatising place for people with an eating disorder.
"[Liv] probably spent about 80 to 90 per cent of her time in the last two years in the hospital and a lot of that time was strapped to a bed with six-point restraints.
"So, chemically and physically restrained and force-fed with the tube, then there are hours of screaming afterwards."
A friendship forms in dark days
Katya Jaksi, 16, met Liv while they were hospitalised together in Melbourne for their eating disorders.
Katya said there were "countless" problems with the available supports for eating disorder treatment.
"In the community, they don't provide enough support for you to actually get proper help before it gets to the stage of needing a hospital admission," she said.
Katya added that once patients had been hospitalised, "girls tended to get stuck in the cycle of multiple, multiple admissions".
She knows this because she would see familiar faces each time she was admitted.
"And within the hospital, it makes it worse, because the treatment is very harmful. It's traumatic and also competitive," she said.
"The thing with eating disorders is that for a lot of people, they thrive on competition and perfection and being the best at something," Katya explained.
"So [patients] will try and see who can stand up and walk around without the nurses noticing, who can get up the most times to do random things, who can eat the slowest, who can refuse eating, who has the most medications, who gets the most blood tests, anything."
"Part of the illness is wanting to prove that you are sick enough to be worthy of something," Katya said.
She said the hospital was a "toxic" environment for eating disorder sufferers and urged medical professionals to reconsider the appropriateness of the care.
Liv traced her suffering to a single incident
Liv's father said his daughter "knew what started the eating disorder, but she couldn't talk about it until about six months ago."
He said Liv opened up about an incident of bullying that occurred when she was aged 13.
Mr Evans has chosen not to share the details of the incident as his daughter had told him about it in confidence before her death.
He said the bullying incident triggered a tsunami of self-doubt and body image issues within Liv.
"She already had a fragile sense of self … and you know, words matter and a series of words from others manifested themselves in a way that was even more depreciating on her self worth," Mr Evans said.
"It's horrible to watch, and look, if we knew everything we know now … I think, definitely some of the treatment would have been different, and perhaps she would still be here. But it's that highly toxic negative self talk that really just wore her down day after day.
"My daughter's not here now because of harmful comments. But also because she didn't have the skills to be able to express the pain that she was going through so we could help."
"She became so entrenched in her disorder that she didn't want to go on. She didn't see a purpose."
He has shared Liv's struggle to urge people to be kinder and better recognise the grave predicament of eating disorder sufferers. He said his message extends to medical professionals.
Hubs, family support needed
Independent MP Zoe Daniel has been calling on the federal government to address what she describes as "an incredibly challenging thing to treat".
She said eating disorders affected patients both mentally and physically and the condition "urgently" needed dedicated hubs for holistic treatment.
"And we really need to be doing research, educating young people, and finding better treatment pathways and support for families," Ms Daniel said.
"I think the supports that are available are quite fragmented."
In line with Katya's experience, Ms Daniel said another issue was hospitalisations could be "traumatising" and had very little follow-up care once a patient was released.
"Imagine having a teenage daughter … that you have to sit and feed or supervise feeding six times a day. That usually means one parent has to give up work ... So home support I think is an area of critical need," she said.
"There are people on the edge of the cliff right now and we need to find better ways of helping them and their families."
In sharing Liv's story, Robb said he wanted people to know his daughter had been vibrant, passionate and an animal lover before her death.
"She loved nature, being outdoors, and all living things. She had been wanting to make a difference on the planet," he said.
"She was very artistic. She loved art and was very very creative.
"She certainly made me a better dad as a result of her being my daughter."
