ME Awareness 2020: Please Step Up & Show Up

It would be no understatement to say that the world right now is chaos. Face-to-face interactions are a rarity, and people are spending most of their time indoors. But for me, life has not changed. With the exception of therapy being done over the phone instead of in-person, my daily life is pretty much the same as it was several months ago. This is because I am one of the millions of people across the world suffering from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

Another time I'm sure I'll share how ME affects me physically, the story of how I fell ill, and how my illness has fluctuated over the nearly 9 years I've been ill - but I can't bring myself to do that today. I have no energy to dredge up years of pain and spill my heart out in the hopes that it will inspire people to get involved with activism.

I'm beyond exhausted, and I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated that as ME patients we have to fight so hard to be taken seriously, that there are still people who think we're just "lazy", that we are still having to argue against people who don't believe ME warrants scientific research, and that as I try and form my thoughts into coherent sentences my head is feeling heavier by the second and the room feels like it's starting to spin.

There are so many things I could say, but the only message I want to get across today is that we need all of you, who are able to, to step up and get involved with ME activism. Every single person with ME has suffered loss because of it, and we are desperate for a cure. So please, help us be heard. Share awareness posts, write to your government representatives, sign petitions, do whatever you can.

I am one among millions suffering at the hands of this illness, and we need you to step up and show up for us.

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