Aaron Sims, The Gazette, 14 May, 2018.
A mother and daughter from Thornbury have spent their Saturday campaigning and fundraising at Cribbs Causeway to mark ME Awareness Day.
Liz and Helen Wood have campaigned for the awareness event for a number of years, after Helen was diagnosed with the condition in 2005.
The pair ran their annual stall in The Mall for almost eight hours on Saturday, where they chatted to shoppers about the condition and the work of charity the ME Association.
Among those they spoke to included several who had family members with ME and even conversing with someone else who had been diagnosed with the condition, at the age of 14.
They said that while they only raised £75 in donations during their time at the Mall, the important thing was they had helped the charity in raising awareness and would continue to do it every year for ME Awareness Day.
Liz said: “We are amazed at how many people out there don’t in fact know what ME is about.
“One may think seeing someone with ME there is nothing wrong with my daughter, for example, but it is only when one is a parent that has a child with it, it opens one’s eyes to see what it is all about.
Helen added: “The first person that came up to us immediately said to me that I don’t look ill.
“That’s exactly what ME is – It’s an invisible illness. You don’t look ill but how one looks and how one feels is two completely different things.”
The pair also chose to highlight the Go Blue for ME campaign, with blue balloons decorating the stall as they handed out leaflets, key rings and wristbands.
The ME Association
We help people with M.E. and their families.
If you would like show your support for our vital work then please donate whatever you can afford to our ME Awareness Week Just Giving campaign – Go BLUE for ME.
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Help us continue to make the UK a better place for people with M.E.