Hi 👋🏻 To celebrate turning 30 this year, I have planned a 5km walk to raise money for Invest in ME, a charity very close to my heart. 

I've had CFS/ME since I was 11 years old. Over the past 18 years, my health has fluctuated a lot...there have been periods when I've been leading a 90% normal life, and periods when I've been confined to my bed. 

In 2010 I suffered a major ME relapse and no matter what I did, I couldn't stop the decline. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, hypermobility syndrome and IBS, and developed a vestibular disorder that wouldn't be diagnosed til much later. It has been a long, slow uphill climb to get my health to a better place again. There have been so many people who have helped me get to where I am now - family, friends, GPs, consultants, physiotherapists, dietitians, alternative therapists. There are far too many to name but I am so grateful to each and everyone of them. 

To celebrate my improvement in health, I wanted to do something special for my thirtieth which would mark this milestone. So I decided to walk 5kilometres for a charity that funds ME research. This will be the longest distance I've walked in ten years and I'm looking forward to the challenge! 

If you are able to donate, I would be so grateful for your support. Thank you 💜

Invest in ME Research is an independent UK charity finding, funding and facilitating a strategy of biomedical research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME or ME/CFS).The charity is run by volunteers - patients or parents of children with ME - with no paid staff.Overheads are kept to a minimum and all funds raised to go to promoting education of, and funding for biomedical research into, ME.Our efforts are focused on setting up a UK Centre of Excellence for ME which will provide proper examinations, diagnosis and in time treatment(s)/cure(s). 

ME is an invisible illness. You never see ME patients when they're at their worst because they're too ill to leave their bed. Sometimes people think that ME patients are just 'very tired' and this isn't helped by the term Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Sadly it's just one of many symptoms and it often feels like we are battling our own bodies just to perform the simplest of tasks. Every ME patient is fighting their own battle, but I feel lucky to be in a position where I can now contribute to the ongoing battle to fund research and improve treatment options for all ME sufferers.