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- 6
Hello All,
This is my first post, and I'm not completely sure where to put is, so do let me know if it's in the wrong place, or if I need to change it.
I am an ME sufferer (I became sick in 2010) and freelance journalist (published in The Guardian and Times newspapers). I have been commissioned to write a lead feature on ME for The Times, and I'm looking for someone with severe ME to interview. I did have another fellow PWME in mind, but I think they might be too sick to be interviewed at the moment.
The interview would need to be this week (Saturday 3rd September at the latest), to link in to the 'blood signature' / Dauer news story. I realise finding someone at short notice might be a bit tricky given how unpredictable and disabling this illness is.
The ideal interviewee would be:
- Based in the UK, and ideally somewhere I can get to from London with relative ease (4-5hour train journey is probably my limit mobility-wise).
- Have experienced a period of severe ME. As is always the way with these newspaper features, we are interested in speaking to someone who has had a severe form of the illness, perhaps experiencing paralysis, seizures and blackouts. My ME is mostly moderate (although it would have been life-threatening without antibiotics), and I am keen to highlight just how dangerous it is for the NHS to be dismissing this group of patients.
- Have been let down by NHS care: e.g. admitted to an NHS ward and then discharged because there was nothing the doctors could do.
- Under 30 and female/ non-binary This is because I will be talking about the ways in which doctors dismiss certain groups of patients with ME, especially young women, as hysterical etc. (My NHS consultant tried to draw a connection between my physical appearance and my medical presentation, and implied that I would be better if I had a stable boyfriend *rolls eyes*).
Feel free to contact me on here, or over email (I'm easthamjanet at gmail.com).
I really look forward to hearing from you!
All the solidarity,
Janet
This is my first post, and I'm not completely sure where to put is, so do let me know if it's in the wrong place, or if I need to change it.
I am an ME sufferer (I became sick in 2010) and freelance journalist (published in The Guardian and Times newspapers). I have been commissioned to write a lead feature on ME for The Times, and I'm looking for someone with severe ME to interview. I did have another fellow PWME in mind, but I think they might be too sick to be interviewed at the moment.
The interview would need to be this week (Saturday 3rd September at the latest), to link in to the 'blood signature' / Dauer news story. I realise finding someone at short notice might be a bit tricky given how unpredictable and disabling this illness is.
The ideal interviewee would be:
- Based in the UK, and ideally somewhere I can get to from London with relative ease (4-5hour train journey is probably my limit mobility-wise).
- Have experienced a period of severe ME. As is always the way with these newspaper features, we are interested in speaking to someone who has had a severe form of the illness, perhaps experiencing paralysis, seizures and blackouts. My ME is mostly moderate (although it would have been life-threatening without antibiotics), and I am keen to highlight just how dangerous it is for the NHS to be dismissing this group of patients.
- Have been let down by NHS care: e.g. admitted to an NHS ward and then discharged because there was nothing the doctors could do.
- Under 30 and female/ non-binary This is because I will be talking about the ways in which doctors dismiss certain groups of patients with ME, especially young women, as hysterical etc. (My NHS consultant tried to draw a connection between my physical appearance and my medical presentation, and implied that I would be better if I had a stable boyfriend *rolls eyes*).
Feel free to contact me on here, or over email (I'm easthamjanet at gmail.com).
I really look forward to hearing from you!
All the solidarity,
Janet
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