ME and Long Covid : In need of a biomedical breakthrough

To mark the end of my fourth year of living with Long Covid, I'm raising money in aid of ME Research UK. Every donation will help move the science forward for this life-altering illness. Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me

There are up to two million adults and children affected by Long Covid in the UK, including over 1.5 million who report their daily activities being limited by Long Covid.

A significant proportion of Long Covid patients - by one estimate, approximately half - meet the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, sometimes referred to as ME/CFS - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). This includes people with life-altering symptoms including debilitating cognitive dysfunction and the exacerbation of symptoms following exertion.

People with ME have one of the worst qualities of life of any disease but have long been dismissed and overlooked. The most severely affected patients are reliant on full-time care, sometimes becoming unable to speak or swallow and requiring hospital care to avoid dehydration and malnutrition.

People with ME have faced decades of inadequate care and insufficient funding for biomedical research, which have shaped the NHS care available to Long Covid patients today. From 2015 to 2020, just £6 million was committed in UK funding for ME research, compared to £53 million for Parkinson's disease and £22 million for multiple sclerosis. There has been an increase worldwide in research funding for Long Covid, including some investments in the UK. However, this has been nowhere near sufficient to recover lost ground from decades of underfunding research for ME and other infection-associated chronic illnesses.

Do you want to join me in making a difference? Please donate to ME Research today.

More information about ME Research UK: Our principal aim is to commission and fund high-quality scientific (biomedical) investigation into the causes, consequences and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a debilitating illness which affects between 0.2 and 0.4% of the population. ME Research UK - Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Charity No SCO36942