STHLM565 for ME

Project MATT

STHLM565 - #BikeforME

ProjectMATT is a young charity group taking on unique physical challenges in order to raise awareness and money for those who suffer from syndromes that limit their mobility.

This year

Our upcoming project will take place the 14th of June and is dedicated to ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) patients. The event resolves around cycling from Oslo to Stockholm (roughly 565km) in less than 24h - we call it STHLM565 #BikeforME . We are working together with both the Swedish and Norwegian National Associations for ME in an attempt to unite these two nations in the battle against ME and establish this connection by cycling from one capital to the other.

Early beginnings

The story of ProjectMATT began on 29th of April 2023 where fifteen people from Stockholm set off to walk 100km in under 24h through the streets of their hometown as a way of raising awareness and collecting money for ALS. After roughly 22 hours, four of them made it to the finish line and managed to raise 7500$ for ALS research. 

Four friends

Motivated by this feat, three of them decided to found a charity group with the purpose of planning and completing similar endeavors in the future. Our names are Mats, Alfred and Theo. We are childhood friends and appreciate physically demanding challenges and have taken part in many different races across multiple disciplines, from cross country skiing to marathons to the famous 315 km bike race “Vätternrundan”. However, we wanted to make a difference and use this passion of ours as a way to raise awareness and support people who have become chronically ill and limited in their ability to exercise. It also poses a new challenge, this being the organization and preparatory work of such projects. Raising money and awareness is harder than one might think. The managerial and athletic aspects of these projects require immense support before, during and after an event, which our friend Tom took as his primary role. And with his addition, the group was given the name Project MATT, derived from our initials.

ME/CFS

With STHLM565 we are taking on a huge challenge with the goal of raising 565.000kr for charity. And this is very much needed. ME or Chronic fatigue syndrome is an illness that is thought to be the aftermath of an infection and makes people experience profound mental and physical exertion in such a stark way that they can’t carry out their everyday activities. An estimated 1% of the Swedish population have ME and of those around 70% are unable to work. However, as the research in this field is not very extensive, ME patients often fall under the radar and are disregarded by society. Hence it wasn't until recently that we discovered people whom we have contact with suffer from this syndrome. This opened our eyes for how invisible ME patients are in society and we decided to dedicate our upcoming challenge to them. It is not so much about the Numbers - it is about the people. We want to make ME and its people visible to the world. 

The people we know who suffer from this disease also happen to live in Stockholm and Oslo which partly was the reason for the route selection. 

Join the movement

This journey will be documented both on Social Media (@Project_MATT_) and captured in a final documentary showcasing the challenge, ME, its victims, as well as our supporters and sponsors. We wish for you to join on this ride toward a better life for people with ME. Thank you for your donation!

Mats, Alfred, Tom and Theo

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