My Story  

For the majority of my life I have lived an active lifestyle and participated regularly in sporting activity. I have always considered myself a strong runner and in my teens and early twenties I held the ambition of running a marathon. I have developed health issues that now mean I will probably never be able to fulfil this dream.

In 2012 I contracted glandular fever, followed by severe post viral fatigue and ultimately M.E. (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). My health has deteriorated such that in the last 18 months I have only been able to leave the house once a day for a short walk of a few hundred yards. There was even a period lasting a couple of months when I was unable to reach the pavement, which is less than 10 yards from my front door.

M.E. is a severely debilitating illness which varies in severity, but in all cases its crucial to not exceed your limits as this will cause a deterioration in your health. My 2.6 challenge is designed to keep me within my limits, so in raising some money for charity I don’t damage my health.

My 2.6 Challenge 

The 2.6 Challenge (#TwoPointSixChallenge) is an initiative that starts on 26 April 2020, the day that the London Marathon was due to take place, to help raise monies for charities across the UK who are struggling to fundraise due to the ongoing pandemic. 

My 2.6 challenge is to walk around the allotments (pictured above) once a day until I reach the distance of 2.6 miles. The distance around the allotments is approximately 340 yards, so it should take me 14 days to reach the 2.6 mile goal. 

My target was to initially raise £260 for the ME Association fund, but with generous donations this was met within 24 hours. Therefore, I have increased the target to £615. 615 represents the number of days I have been ill up to 26 April 2020. 

Helping M.E Sufferers 

The easiest way to help M.E. sufferers would be an improvement in the quality of advice issued by medical professionals in respect of fatigue based conditions. The structural failings in the health services in this respect should be easily fixed without a large increase in funding.

Even if preventative measures are improved within the health services it is inevitable that there will continue to be a number of severe ME/CFS cases amongst the population and to help these individuals it is crucial that more money is made available for research into the causes and effective treatments for this illness. Currently funding for ME/CFS lags behind many less prevalent illnesses.

The Ramsay Research Fund is the research arm of the ME Association. It supports vital research into the causes and treatment of ME/CFS. They invest only in biomedical research studies and infrastructure projects that will help lead to:

    • A better understanding of underlying disease mechanisms;
    • The development of reliable diagnostic tests for use in clinics; and
    • Safe and effective forms of treatment.