Having had ME and Fibromyalgia for over 15 years, I know just how life changing chronic illness is. I'm no longer in control of my own fate and my life is utterly controlled by illness, every minute of every day.

One of the hardest things about having ME is not only the lack of understanding and empathy from the public, friends and even some family, but also the constant battle with the medical world and the government to get proper biological research. Sadly there are a small but influential clique of "experts" who are desperate to label ME as a psychosocial illness, that can magically be cured with exercise and some positive thinking. Sadly, sufferers & many specialists know that just isn't the case. No amount of pushing ourselves or positive thinking can cure a multi system, biological illness. 

This is why I support Invest in ME. They are a brilliant charity, with no paid staff, who work hard to change how ME is perceived by healthcare professionals, medical departments and the media. 
Their 3 main aims are to raise funds for biological research, spread awareness and education and to lobby the government to change the way it funds ME research and how as a country we treat ME sufferers. 

Invest in ME Research want to establish an international strategy of biomedical research into ME and establish a UK and European Centre of Excellence for biomedical research into ME. Please help us make ME an illness which is properly understood and where adequate funding is provided for biomedical research into ME allowing treatments and cures to be found. 

Lots more information can be found here for anyone that wants to know more: www.investinme.org. 

As October is a well known month for giving things up to raise money for charity, our fundraising group, "Let's do it for ME" have been running a "Give it UPtober" event and I thought it was about time I joined in. 
I'm not able to do much to raise money the normal ways (however much i'd dream of taking on a physical challenge) 
SO, something I can do it to give up Facebook for a whole month. 
This won't be easy or me, as being unable to lead a normal social life, Facebook is one place where I am able to socialise with both healthy friends and other ME/Fibro/chronic illness sufferers. 
I not only use it as somewhere to have a laugh, chat about every day things and share photos, I use it as a place to get support from friends when I'm struggling and to have that reassurance from others in my situation. 
It'll be hard not to have that, but it's much much harder living with ME. 

So, if you are able to donate to help me raise funds i'd appreciate it more than you'd know. Even if you can literally only spare £1, it'd be £1 extra towards research that one day will bring about a cure for this debilitating, life altering illness. It's all I and over 250k sufferers dream of. 

Thank you! xx