We are delighted to have been selected for a BBC Lifeline Appeal - a unique opportunity to increase understanding of ME and share the voices of the ME community across national TV.
Since February, we have been working with the BBC to develop a 9-minute video, which will feature the real-life stories of people with ME: Andrea, Alice & Isla, and Mark. These stories will be aired on BBC One on Sunday 26th April at 2.50pm.
It will also be available to watch on the BBC website until Saturday 16 May.
Please share our video far and wide to help us raise much-needed awareness of ME and the impact it has on people's lives!
Through this appeal, we hope to reach an audience unfamiliar with the realities of living with ME, combat stigma, and raise vital funds to support our work.
You will be able to donate to our appeal via the BBC from Monday 20 April - details of how to do this will be available on our BBC Lifeline Appeal page.
All money raised during the appeal will go towards our work to improve the lives of anyone affected by ME - meeting their needs today through delivering information, support and healthcare, and changing the future by investing in research.
This opportunity simply would not have been possible without the generosity and commitment of others.
We'd like to say a special thank you to the BBC team for making our BBC Lifeline Appeal a reality and delivering our messaging with such care and conviction.
We would also like to thank the amazing people who took centre stage in our appeal, bravely talking about their ME and the impact is has had on their lives.
In the build up to filming, we spoke to Andrea, who has very severe ME. Andrea talked about the catastrophic impact ME has had on her family, social life, and individuality. Andrea also spoke about feeling listened to, believed, and supported for the first time in three decades having accessed our Services, having previously experienced ignorance and minimisation from healthcare professionals.
We also spoke with Alice, whose eldest daughter, Isla, has ME and is mostly housebound. Alice discussed the profound impact Isla's illness has had on preventing her from playing with her younger sister and the torture of watching your child suffer every day. Isla is part of our Young People's Community and receives our monthly Cheers magazine, offering an opportunity to contribute art and feeling a sense of achievement from it being in the publication.
Mark took part in DecodeME, having lived with ME for decades and now being severely affected by the condition. Mark was forced to retire in 2020 due to his worsening condition and is now housebound, unable to spend more than a few hours per day upright, with social interactions over an hour causing post-exterional malaise, creating a feeling of extreme isolation. Mark spoke to the "golden opportunity" presented by our Decode ME study to take a big step forward towards addressing the misperceptions that still exist around ME and impacts treatment and stigma.
Finally, none of our work would be possible without the generosity of our supporters - you - who continue to support our vital Services and research work. We do not take any of you for granted, so thank you!
