M.E. Awareness protest takes place on College Green

A few days ago, hundreds of people around the world rallied to raise awareness of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis  (more commonly known as ‘Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’).

They called for an increase in funding for both research and medical education into the disease, along with social justice for M.E. patients.

At the demonstration, activists displayed rows of empty shoes – representing the millions of people worldwide who are absent from their education, careers, social lives, families and this protest due to the debilitating symptoms of M.E., in order to make the invisible, visible.

These football boots belong to Noah, aged 9, who has been sick since the age of 5

MEAction.net is an international network of patients empowering each other to fight for health equality for M.E. will hold events in 24 cities around the world (U.K. cities include Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Nottingham, Oxford and London) in an effort to bring attention to the #MillionsMissing who suffer from the disease with little hope of recuperating.

The Bristol event on College Green displayed over one-hundred pairs of shoes accompanied with poignant messages, such as “I am missing my teens, twenties, and thirties” and “I miss living, not simply existing”.

The network strives to raise awareness of M.E., and to shine a light on a patient group who are so often dismissed.

You can view a short YouTube clip of the protests here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GolQjX7P4Qc&feature=youtu.be