I am writing this blog on behalf
of my eldest daughter Keisha Mawer.
Keisha is the only one of my
three daughters who does not suffer from the severe and debilitating illness Myalgic
Encephalomyelitis (M.E.). The girls are
all close in age and subsequently have become not only sisters but firm friends
too. Seeing both her sisters have to
give up on their education, social lives and suffer daily from the varied and
many symptoms that make up the illness has affected her deeply. It has made her
determined to help us raise awareness about this illness and to also find ways
to support research being carried out by Invest in ME by fund-raising in
whichever ways we can.
Keisha wrote a very moving blog not too long ago about how watching her sisters live so very differently to how we anticipated has affected her. You can read about it here
Now, unless you know Keisha you
won’t be aware that she has dreadlocks – 45 of them to be precise (I should
know as it took me 4 days to painstakingly create them for her). She has had them for a year now and to say
she loves them (she calls them her babies) would be an understatement. Her whole look is a fundamental part of who
she is and her decision to cut off her dreadlocks in order to raise funds for
research into this illness was not one she takes lightly and is a testament to
how committed she is to her sisters. Also, if you take into consideration that she suffers from anxiety/depression disorder and is on the Autistic Spectrum, you will then realise how brave she is to do this.
We have printed the above into A5 flyers and A4 posters to
hand out, letterbox and place around Keisha’s College and anywhere else that
will allow us to leave them with them.
She is hopeful that this will also help raise awareness about this
illness within her peer group, as most of them have not heard of M.E. and have
no idea of what it is and how many people of all ages it affects. Keisha hopes they will jump on board and
support her in spreading the word further and also make donations towards
Keisha’s fundraising page.
In addition to cutting off her dreads on Friday 9th May, Keisha will then be bleaching what is left of her hair over the weekend, which we estimate will be approximately 1.5cm-2cm in length - and dying it bright blue for the duration of M.E. Awareness Week, which runs from Sunday 11th May through to Saturday 17th May this year.
In addition to cutting off her dreads on Friday 9th May, Keisha will then be bleaching what is left of her hair over the weekend, which we estimate will be approximately 1.5cm-2cm in length - and dying it bright blue for the duration of M.E. Awareness Week, which runs from Sunday 11th May through to Saturday 17th May this year.
All we ask is for you to share
this blog and help her in raising awareness about
this illness. We appreciate that not everyone is in a position to be able to
donate funds but that is only one of the ways you can help, sharing the links
and spreading the word is also vitally important.
Thank you from not only Keisha but the rest of the family too.
x~X~x
x~X~x
