Representing the Millions Missing in Sheffield
Hundreds of people gathered in Sheffield Fargate today as part of the global Millions Missing campaign, to raise visibility for people around the world living with ME.
Organised by the Sheffield ME and Fibromyalgia charity, the demonstration was part of a global initiative advocating for ME health equality. On Fargate, as around the world, shoes were sent by sufferers too ill to leave their homes, featuring heart-breaking messages about the lives that have been missed because of this under-funded and ignored disease.
“Lost walks in the sun,” read one tag tied onto a pair of sandals, while the note on a pair of baby shoes described how one woman was unable to support her daughter after the birth of her little girl, due to being bed-bound with ME.
Worldwide, ME effects between 15 and 30 million people, but due to it being treated as a psychological illness for many years, it receives only a fraction of the funding of other neurological illnesses, and doctors still aren’t trained in how best to treat patients.
One such patient, is Laura Boyles, who spoke from her wheelchair about just how much ME has affected her, saying:
