Blue Sunday 2024 is happening on the 19th May and Katie and I are really looking forward to eating delicious cake, drinking cuppas and hopefully raising some money for the charity ME Research UK. We would love you to join in with us if you're able!

Both of us live with ME and we can testify as to just how hard it is to do that day in day out. There is no treatment or cure for ME, thanks in large part to a decades long psychologising of the illness resulting in stigma and a lack of research interest. Thankfully in the last few years this has started to change and in fact both of us were able to take part in Decode ME last year - a large scale DNA based research study looking to find genetic causes for the illness. So much more research is needed though for us to see breakthrough in finding treatments that would make a real difference to our lives, and that is why we're supporting an ME research charity this year.

The Blue Sunday Tea Party for ME was started 11 years ago by the lovely Anna Redshaw, who lives with ME, when she realised that there were no ME/CFS Awareness or Fundraising activities that she could participate in...all demanding more energy than anyone with ME could manage. Her simple idea, having a cuppa and cake and donating what you would have spent on it to an ME charity has gone on to raise an amazing £100,000! It's called 'Blue Sunday' simply because blue is the colour for ME awareness and it takes place on the Sunday following International ME/CFS Awareness Day.

So we'd love to invite you to join us on the 19th...get some good cakes in, pop the kettle on, read/watch a bit more about ME (links at the bottom), maybe even wear something blue, and if you're able to...donate the amount you'd pay for a cuppa and cake in a coffee shop to ME Research UK - our chosen charity. We'd also love to see pictures of your set-up!

Genuinely thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support, it really does mean so much.

Something to read: www.meresearch.org.uk/what-is-me/

Something to watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z4UiTWpkZg&t=236s

Tried vs Fatigued: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3HF_5_s6w4/?igsh=MWs1djZxMmJwN2h4eA==