ME AWARENESS WEEKS MONDAY 11th MAY – SUNDAY 17th MAY…

The ME Association are going blue for ME to help raise awareness of ME.. Go Blue 4 ME, one of the ME Association’s most successful regular fundraising campaigns, will run again in 2020. It will be held during ME Awareness Week in May: Monday, May 11 – Sunday, May 17. They are currently working on the full campaign and will let you know all about it as soon as we can. In the meantime, you might like to consider previous events and begin to plan what you might do in 2020.

Why BLUE?  Because blue is the internationally accepted and recognised colour of M.E. Awareness. How you GO BLUE is entirely up to you… How far you go BLUE is also entirely up to you. Just do all you can to colour in this cruel invisible illness.

The ME Association say,

• We published photos with REAL quotes from those featured in our campaign as info-graphics on the website and social media and you shared them in large numbers across your networks.
• You shared your own images and stories and highlighted the issues you felt needed to be addressed, like research funding, medical education and medical care and support.
• The legend of our campaign was shared far and wide across social media: “Real People. Real Disease. Real M.E.” as were the hashtags: #RealME #GoBLUE4ME #MEAwareness
• Your efforts helped us to reach beyond our immediate community to raise awareness with those who are not directly affected.
• For more inspiration, take a look at the 2019 Events Gallery.

Head over to the ME Associations website for some great ideas on how to raise funds for ME.

Action for ME is a UK charity which helps support and helps make a difference to people suffering from M.E.

What is ME? – ‘Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.) is a long-term (chronic), fluctuating, a neurological condition that causes symptoms affecting many body systems, more commonly the nervous and immune systems. M.E. affects an estimated 250,000 people in the UK and around 17 million people worldwide.

People with M.E. experience severe, persistent fatigue associated with post-exertional malaise, the body’s inability to recover after expending even small amounts of energy, leading to a flare-up in symptoms.

Not everyone will experience the exact same symptoms so it’s important not to compare someone who has M.E. to another person who has the illness. People with M.E. can vary enormously in their experience of the illness, and also how long their symptoms last. Some make good progress and may recover, while others can remain ill for a number of years and may not get better. Some people find that they don’t go back completely to the way they felt before they became ill, but they do recover sufficiently to lead happy and fulfilling lives. This is similar to many other chronic illnesses.’

Fibromyalgia sufferers understand what it’s like to suffer from chronic fatigue but M.E sufferers experience this in a much bigger way, a way which most people could not comprehend.  Several descriptions of illness resembling those of M.E and chronic fatigue syndrome have been reported for at least two hundred years but they say that ‘a lack of understanding and awareness about M.E. means patients can experience disbelief, and even discrimination, from friends, family, health and social care professionals and employers.’ Sounds familiar?

Fibromyalgia, CFS, and M.E all seem to have a similar pattern of not being accepted as a genuine condition or people suffering without a diagnosis. The only way to raise awareness of these conditions if for sufferers and carers to highlight the plight they are in. Action for M.E is just one of those charities trying to raise awareness of the condition. They take action to end the ignorance, injustice, and neglect faced by people with M.E. They do that by helping to improve the lives of people with M.E.  while taking action to secure change for the future.

Their mission is empowering people with M.E. to fulfil their potential and secure the care and support they need while working towards a greater understanding of the illness and ultimately a cure.

You can donate ‘Give Big for Me‘ to help fund vital information and support services for people suffering from M.E.