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Massive opportunity! Donate to Canary in a Coalmine to let it take advantage of the TED effect!

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
Amid all the amazing output that comes from Jen Brea - @JenB - via her work on her documentary and #MEAction, somehow the calls for donations don't seem very prominent but we need to chuck some money at this so she can take advantage of the "TED effect".

She's got very (very!) good reason to expect such an effect when her TED talk goes up on YouTube in the fall (I'm assuming she'll be timing it to boost the #Millions Missing campaign in September).

Just got this email, which I've broken up a bit for readability. Paragraph 3 and onward are very important (and exciting!).

Canary in a Coalmine said:
Dear friends,

Last week, at the TEDSummit in Banff, Canada, I gave the first TED talk about myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), the disease I have been battling for the last five years.

Memorizing a 2600 word, sixteen minute talk taxed my brain in ways I did not imagine was possible. I had to pull out every single trick I have just to get on stage. During the talk, more than once I ran into a brick wall where there was nothing but blank – no words, no thoughts. But everyone stood and silently cheered and sent up love and support when I stumbled. And I made it! To the end! It was hard because the old me, the me that I was and still am, wants to nail it, wants everything to be flawless. And I realized on stage that it's OK to let what is broken be broken. That it's more important to be true.

I may never understand exactly what alchemy happened in that room. The support has been incredible, overwhelming, and has given me more hope than I have ever had since the day I first got sick that we can change the conversation.

And with visibility and recognition I believe will come the care and research that millions have been waiting for, for decades.

The success of the talk has stepped up the timeline for our outreach campaign. We had hoped to bring on professional public relations and strategic support after the documentary film's festival premiere in 2017.

However, this fall when the talk goes live, it has the potential to reach millions around the world in dozens of languages.

We are already receiving media inquiries; offers of partnership and support that our tiny team just does not have the capacity to absorb. I have been told by many who have spoken before at TED that we will be flooded with thousands of emails.

I need your help to take full advantage of this unique moment. Help us grow our team. Please consider making a donation today.

http://www.canaryinacoalminefilm.com/donate/

What TEDSummit attendees are saying about the talk


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"You have given me a gift. You will save lives. You will change the world. Mad-F***ing-Props-To-You-Fellow-Fighter. Stoke those flames." – TED Resident Liz Jackson

Read more about the day from Jen's perspective. And read Jen's husband, Omar's account of what it took to make it there. And even more tweets, articles and audience reactions here.

Let me give that donation link again!

http://www.canaryinacoalminefilm.com/donate/

This is it! This is a huge breakout opportunity. Let's get our wallets out!
 
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Old Bones

Senior Member
Messages
808
Excellent "Bang for the Bucks"! Done. Can't wait to view the TED talk this fall.

TED Resident Liz Jackson's blog article is very powerful, and well worth reading. https://medium.com/@eejackson/women...c_cid=f974588a9c&mc_eid=50fd9ed9e0#.3c6jjbkht
A few quotes:

"I don’t have a best day of my life (there are many). But I sure as hell have a worst day. And it’s not the day I acquired my illness. The worst day of my life happened 265 days later. At the Cleveland Clinic. In the office of a renowned Neurologist. A distinguished man who carried himself like my dad. The entire day felt like a trick. I had gone home to the Cleveland area for the holidays. My parents and I thought a visit to this doctor couldn’t hurt. We could not have been more wrong. It hurt the worst. He told me directly that I was faking my illness. And for a moment, perhaps because he looked like my dad, my parents believed him. I tried to believe him too."

"I am someone who embraces and requires the support of a beloved therapist. And I am someone who began to resent the emotional and behavioral support I require, because of one dismissive Neurologist who led me to believe that something was wrong with me. He led me to believe I was unfixable. I now know the truth; I wasn’t broken. The system was."
 
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