Annabel's Screen-Free Weekend



Annabel Schleutker

 Hi my name is Annabel, I’m 40, and I’ve had M.E for 13 years now, the last eight severely. I’ve been 100% housebound for the last 20 months, but also during these last eight years I had 16 months where I was bedridden, unable to even sit up, read, watch tv and could only talk for a few minutes a few times a day. Some people, sadly, remain bedridden for much longer than me, for years and years.

M.E robs people of so much. I’ve missed out on a career, social life, raising a family and much more. I am not alone. There are many of us living with this very debilitating illness.

During the years of living with this illness, different highly speculative treatments are touted. They often involve a lot of expense, are often ineffective and can make people worse. It’s an emotional rollercoaster trying different treatments and yet people are desperate and will try speculative treatments with risky outcomes. I’ve done it myself, leaving me with dashed hopes and depleted finances.

Research has been done and studies have shown the biological processes at work in M.E; however, to date these findings have not translated into effective evidence- based treatments for people with M.E. With this in mind, when I heard that the excellent charity, Invest in M.E, are aiming to set up a bio medical treatment centre at the University of East Anglia, I wanted to get involved, as I know this could help so many people with M.E finally have access to effective bio medical treatments that could help them and improve their quality of life.

Let’s do it for M.E is a patient driven campaign to raise awareness and funds for the proposed bio medical treatment centre at the University of East Anglia. So I knew doing some fundraising for Let’s do it for M.E would be my way of being able to help in a small way this centre become a reality.

Being housebound, running marathons or climbing mountains are not possible. So I’ve set myself the challenge of going a weekend, March 10-11th, screen free, not logging on to the internet, my I phone or watching tv. As I’m housebound and live alone, the internet is a life saver for me, connecting me to the outside world, so going screen free will not be easy, but if it means I can raise some coppers for this excellent campaign, it will be worth it – and hey I might even read a book!

I would be so grateful to anyone who is able to make a small donation. You can donate at my justgiving page, www.justgiving.com/Annabel-Schleutker12

A big thank you.

Annabel