Washington Post: With his son terribly ill, a top scientist takes on CFS

[ballard]

I have a few more graphics to post. I thought I might just drop them into appropriate threads from time to time.
I am really thrilled that you have a way of sharing the graphics. Thank you.

 

[Kati]

I have a few more graphics to post. I thought I might just drop them into appropriate threads from time to time.
I am really thrilled that you have a way of sharing the graphics. Thank you.

@ballard I am not necessarily watching all the threads, all the time, so feel free to tag me with your post. My advocacy work is usually directed at NIH and Francis Collins. Many people retweet my stuff, so it is a great opportunity to get the message across. Using cartoon is a different way to get the message across, and using a tool like Twitter is ideal.

 

[Gingergrrl]

I have a few more graphics to post. I thought I might just drop them into appropriate threads from time to time.
I am really thrilled that you have a way of sharing the graphics. Thank you.

@ballard, I was wondering if you have thought about sharing your graphics with the End ME/CFS Project? (which Whitney's father heads the research.) Am not sure of your thoughts on this but we can easily share it with them if you want to just in case they are not reading this thread.

 

[beaker]

I have a few more graphics to post. I thought I might just drop them into appropriate threads from time to time.
I am really thrilled that you have a way of sharing the graphics. Thank you.

I shared your cartoon on twitter too ( I saw it in @Kati 's tweet ) . They are great eye catchers and way to get the message across. Thanks !
I'm happy to keep sharing if you keep 'em coming : )

 

[ballard]

@ballard, I was wondering if you have thought about sharing your graphics with the End ME/CFS Project? (which Whitney's father heads the research.) Am not sure of your thoughts on this but we can easily share it with them if you want to just in case they are not reading this thread.

I would be happy to share the graphic with the End ME/CFS Project. My heart goes out to Whitney and his family.

 

[Janet Dafoe]

I would be happy to share the graphic with the End ME/CFS Project. My heart goes out to Whitney and his family.

@ballard I'm Whitneys mom. I love your cartoon. I just wish there were more hatch marks on the wall! He's been stuck in that room for years. . We'd love to use it! It's so perfect because Whitney has a love/hate relationship with crows. They wake him up when he's trying to sleep, and his sleep is so messed up, so that's hard for him. When he wasn't thus sick he used to go out and try to get them to leave. We now have a raptor tape playing outside and that helps. But I love the crows and somehow your cartoon made me feel like they understood why he tried to chase them away and they are still rooting for him. Kind of a coincidence and perfect that you used a crow!!!!

 

[ballard]

Oh, Whitney's mom, I am so sorry about your son's illness. I was truly moved by the story of your family and your
efforts to save your dear Whitney. I feel that your story has reached people around the world and has done a great deal to advance the understanding of ME/CFS, especially by people who have no idea about the seriousness of the disease.

I hope your husband's research will be able to provide some answers to help the severely ill as well as those of us who are not usually bed bound but still live difficult lives.

Of course you may use the cartoon in any way that you see fit.
Other ME/CFS Cartoons may also be seen at http://cfsgraphics.com.

As for the crow.... it is definitely rooting for Whitney, you, Dr. Davis and Ashley!

 

[Kati]

Oh, Whitney's mom, I am so sorry about your son's illness. I was truly moved by the story of your family and your
efforts to save your dear Whitney. I feel that your story has reached people around the world and has done a great deal to advance the understanding of ME/CFS, especially by people who have no idea about the seriousness of the disease.

I hope your husband's research will be able to provide some answers to help the severely ill as well as those of us who are not usually bed bound but still live difficult lives.

Of course you may use the cartoon in any way that you see fit.
Other ME/CFS Cartoons may also be seen at http://cfsgraphics.com.

As for the crow.... it is definitely rooting for Whitney, you, Dr. Davis and Ashley!

@ballard, I am making very good use of your artwork on twitter. It is powerful stuff and quite timely. Thank you so much!

My twitter account @katiissick

 

[Never Give Up]

@ballard I just looked at the graphics on your web site, they are amazing! These could be so useful to the Open Medicine Institute, MEaction, and anyone trying to make the points that need to be made. I will pass the on.

 

[Sean]

ballard

Love these two. They nail it.

http://www.cfsgraphics.com/graphics---3.html

 

[Sasha]

Hi @Rose49 and welcome to the forums. I'm so sorry Whitney is so terribly ill. We're all rooting for him here. What you and Whitney and your husband are doing to speak out and to allow yourselves to be videoed is, I'm certain, making a huge impact. I use this video below in particular all the time in advocacy. It's immensely powerful.

All best wishes to Whitney - I remember him from when he was well enough to post here and he told me that his dad was a famous scientist and could help us (and I had no clue what he was talking about and just thought it was sweet that he loved his dad enough to think he was famous!).

 

[Gingergrrl]

@ballard I'm Whitneys mom. I love your cartoon.

Welcome to the PR forums and I have said many prayers for you and Whitney and your entire family. I met you and your husband very briefly at a fundraising event in 2014 and it was an honor that has stuck with me. I am so sorry for all that you are going through.

Kind of a coincidence and perfect that you used a crow!!!!

How remarkable that Ballard chose the crow as a symbol without knowing that history. This cartoon is definitely meant to be.

Oh, Whitney's mom, I am so sorry about your son's illness.

Me, too, and am with you @ballard and @Rose49.

Of course you may use the cartoon in any way that you see fit.
Other ME/CFS Cartoons may also be seen at http://cfsgraphics.com.

@ballard, I looked at all your cartoons on your site and they are incredible. You are very talented and they are great for advocacy. Am so glad @Kati and others who are literate with Twitter and FB can spread them around for others to see.

As for the crow.... it is definitely rooting for Whitney, you, Dr. Davis and Ashley!

Amen.

Hi @Rose49 and welcome to the forums.

Ditto what @Sasha said and I am glad to be part of this group that continues to fight without giving up.

 

[Sasha]

Story on Fox News's website now:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/...-last-major-disease-dont-know-anything-about/

 

[Sushi]

Good article. This quote from Whitney from a couple of years ago nails it in a way the public might get:

Dafoe described it a couple of years ago on WhitneyDafoe.com: "It's like "staying up for two nights in a row while fasting, then getting drunk.

The state you would be in on the third day—hung over, not having slept or eaten in 3 days—is close, but still better than many CFS patients feel every day."

 

[Countrygirl]

30.12.15 From the Stanford University (USA) CFS Research page.

A plea from Dr. Ronald Davis for more research funding before his son, and others like him, die from this horrific disease. Please donate today, before the year ends, so that maybe in the year 2016 we can find answers for all of the patients suffering in silence.

"My son Whitney woke me this morning to inform me that he is dying. Whitney has severe chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). He did not say he is dying – he cannot speak. He did not write he is dying – he cannot write. He used scrabble tiles to spell out his message. I did not answer him – he cannot tolerate anyone speaking to him. The note said he is willing to go to the hospital even though the experience will be unbearable – hospitals are totally naïve on how to treat CFS patients because of years of denying the existence of the disease. We need to surgically insert a feeding-tube into his small intestine because he cannot eat. This tells me I am running out of time. I must find out soon what is causing the disease and how to cure it. I know I’m not the only one working on this disease but there are too few researchers, too few medical specialists, too little research funds, and too many patients. I know I, or someone, can figure this out. It requires a lot of new data and a lot of thinking. For the past 2 decades I have been involved in innovation of medical technology and automation to generate massive amounts of Human data (BIG DATA) but how do we speed up the thinking? I spend more than half of my time thinking about this disease, comparing the limited data on CFS and many other diseases. I try to track back the symptoms to a possible molecular mechanism. The brain and gut problems could be caused by dysfunctional mitochondria (the organelle for energy generation in every cell) but what is the molecular reason for the dysfunction. Given there are over 1,600 genes involved in mitochondria this is a daunting task. I work on this 7 days a week and will continue to do so until we have an answer." -Dr. Ronald W. Davis

 

[Gingergrrl]

Hard to "like" the above post which just broke my heart. Am at a loss for words.

 

[Sasha]

Sitting here crying. This is awful. Don't know what else to say.

 

[Sasha]

@Countrygirl, do you have a link for this? I couldn't find it on Stanford's page.

 

[Countrygirl]

Sitting here crying. This is awful. Don't know what else to say.

 

[Never Give Up]

https://www.facebook.com/cfsresearchcenter/