Do you see M.E. Prime Minister Trudeau?
Up until 2015 I was a healthy, active woman, working full
time as an Oncology Nurse, when I was struck with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
I’ve seen many doctors, been investigated, and finally
diagnosed, only to find that’s the extent of it. There are no approved
treatments for M.E., no clinical trials, no funds dedicated to this
debilitating illness. It struck me in 2015, the year cases of ME spiked by 38%
in Canada. This is an alarming statistic.
We are the missing millions, too weak to protest, walk, or
raise funds to get our lives back. We grieve all we’ve lost, we fear we’ll be
part of the 95% who are incurable. This disease needs to be studied. A bio-marker
needs to be found so it can be diagnosed early and believed by the community
and even some in the medical community. In the past, before MS and epilepsy
were associated with bio-markers they were also classified as hysteria and
dismissed.
This disease affects women disproportionately, and therefore
our suffering is minimized or dismissed. You claim to care about women. Please be
the Prime Minister who will direct funds towards the study of this devastating
disease. Canada should be a leader in the study of this illness as we have one
of the highest rates of M.E in the world. I am one of the 580,000 sufferers in
Canada, and one of the 17 plus million worldwide.
I am missing from life. I can no longer work in the career I
loved. I have to draw on disability funds when I would rather be working and
active as I was before. I want to have hope; hope for a cure, if not for me,
then for the others who will get this illness. It’s hard to prevent something
you don’t understand. No one is safe from it. It affects men, women, and
children. It can strike you or a loved one. My daughters have a 50% chance of
developing this. That terrifies me. Please see M.E.
Pia Thompson
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