From kitchen to cul-de-sac, armed with chickpeas and more, Curry with M.E. is raising funds for families, adults and children with M.E. in urgent need - donate now and see it doubled!

Curry for M.E. is raising money as part of the #TwoPointSixChallenge in honour of my father, Wahid Chowdhury, who died 18 years ago. I am aiming to raise at least £26,000 and your donation will spur me on to cook 174 curries and walk 2.6 miles to deliver them (as my daily exercise) to people in my community on Tuesday 28 April, all of whom are donating to help achieve my 2.6 challenge!

As I will cover the cost of the ingredients, every penny will go directly to UK charity Action for M.E.’s new Crisis, Support & Advocacy Service, launched on 1 April to provide urgent support for people with M.E. whose lives have been made even harder as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

M.E. is a cause close to my heart as my youngest son, Danny, got a chest infection just after his 11th birthday, a year after I became CEO of Action for M.E. He never got better and was later diagnosed with M.E. Missing out on playing sport and the isolation from not being able to socialise with friends have been major issues for Danny. As with so many others living with chronic and often non-visible conditions, “lockdown” is nothing new.

I wanted to combine my Bangladeshi roots and my passion for cooking with raising money for Action for M.E.’s much-needed service, and so came up with the idea of delivering home-cooked curries during my daily exercise. After suggesting this to neighbours, I was inundated with requests, offering donations in return. It means a lot to me to give something back, not only to people with M.E. but also my brilliant local community. This has been a major support to me during lockdown, from fun (and serious) messages via our online groups, to the sharing and caring among my neighbours.

M.E., a disabling, neurological illness affects at least 250,000 children and adults in the UK, meaning their bodies and brains don’t recover properly after activity – and the symptoms that come with this are horrendous. Pain, brain fog, sleep problems and hypersensitivity to sound and touch mean some can't even be cuddled by loved ones. One in four people with M.E. are so severely affected they are house and/or bedbound and, for children and young people, it’s the most common cause of health-related long-term school absence.

On top of these significant challenges that people with M.E. face day in and day out, support and services they rely on – such as supermarket deliveries or carers providing personal care – have disappeared overnight, leaving some in desperate situations.

Action for M.E. has seen a three-fold increase in requests for urgent support at a time when its income is expected to drop by at least 50%. On top of fundraising events being cancelled, money that is usually relied upon from trusts, or companies and donors who give profits or from endowment funds, has declined. This new service will support 2,661 people with M.E. across the UK in the next 12 months and £26,000 will fund a full-time member of staff for this vital service.