Below is an excerpt from the sidebar to the Reno Gazette-Journal article posted by Kim at the beginning of this thread .
My grandfather was dying of cancer, and nobody would talk about it, Mikovits said. One day I said to him, Dont you know youre dying? And he said, Dont say that. I dont want your grandmother or your dog, George, to know.
He was dying of cancer, and nobody would talk about it. Thats what bothered me most.
Its what instilled the 52-year-old microbiologist with the empathy she has today for patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
All these CFS patients are stigmatized; thats why they stay in the closet. I think were where we were 40 years ago with cancer, Mikovits said. It carried a stigma like CFS does.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20091031...edical-breakthrough-puts-Reno-in-spotlight---
Many of us with CFIDS/ME/XAND have endured not only stigma, but also torture by a ill-informed medical community. We are either denied treatment we need or given treatment that makes us much worse. My humane side forgives them for they know not what they do; another part of me isn't so...kind. I am not nearly as noble as Mikovits' grandfather.
I want validation. I want at least one physician to take me seriously, to know how sick I am, to give me the appropriate meds.
I will never be able to thank Whittemore and Mikovits properly for what they and all who worked on the XMRV study have given to me and to all who suffer this illness.