Category: Fundraising

Please Help David Tuller, Our Champion!

UPDATE: David Tuller’s fundraiser made its goal! A HUGE thank you to everyone who donated. You are helping David continue his important work on our behalf. Thank you to everybody!

David Tuller’s spring fundraiser is now live! Tuller has been tireless in his battle against the GET/CBT ideological onslaught! He has much more work to do and he needs our support.

Tuller has written more than seventy-five  posts on Vincent Racaniello’s Virology Blog, spanning ten years. His articles comprise a full history of how the PACE trial was used to mislead health care providers into thinking ME/CFS could be cured with “a walk and a talk.” Tuller has taken on some of the authors of the PACE study and, despite threats from them, has continued to challenge their findings.

In 2021, Tuller explored the intersections between the pandemic and ME, including the overlap between ME/CFS and long Covid. He kept an eye out for new bad research (CBT/GET, Lightning Process) as well as keeping an eye on goings-on at the CDC, the NIH and elsewhere.

This year, Tuller will continue in his efforts. “Because of long Covid’s range of reported symptoms, many people with the illness have medical issues unrelated to ME and will not receive an ME diagnosis. But a great many will,” he says. “So examining long Covid in the context of these scientific debates over the source and cause of the devastating symptoms is critical to sustain the momentum of change in the ME domain and affirming the advances in the ME field that have been made to date.”

Last year, Tuller successfully raised money through Crowdrise  in order to continue investigating and blogging about the PACE trial. The funds went to the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, which created a position for Tuller to continue his investigative work. Now, a year later, the funds have run out, and Tuller has to depend on the generosity of our community to continue his work.

The struggle continues! And David is fighting hard for us!

PLEASE DONATE HERE!

Please Help David Tuller, Our Champion!

David Tuller’s fundraiser is now live! Tuller has been tireless in his battle against the GET/CBT ideological onslaught! He has much more work to do and he needs our support.

Tuller has written more than seventy-five  posts on Vincent Racaniello’s Virology Blog, spanning seven years. His articles comprise a full history of how the PACE trial was used to mislead health care providers into thinking ME/CFS could be cured with “a walk and a talk.” Tuller has taken on some of the authors of the PACE study and, despite threats from them, has continued to challenge their findings.

This year, Tuller will be looking at intersections between the pandemic and ME, such as concerns about whether some COVID-19 patients will develop an ME-like disease. He will be keeping an eye out for new bad research (think: CBT and GET) and keeping an eye on goings-on at the CDC, the NIH and elsewhere.

Last year, Tuller successfully raised money through Crowdrise  in order to continue investigating and blogging about the PACE trial. The funds went to the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, which created a position for Tuller to continue his investigative work. Now, a year later, the funds have run out, and Tuller has to depend on the generosity of our community to continue his work.

PLEASE DONATE HERE!

Please Help David Tuller, Our Champion!

David Tuller’s fundraiser is now live! Tuller has been tireless in his battle against the GET/CBT ideological onslaught! He has much more work to do and he needs our support.

Tuller has written more than seventy-five  posts on Vincent Racaniello’s Virology Blog, spanning seven years. His articles comprise a full history of how the PACE trial was used to mislead health care providers into thinking ME/CFS could be cured with “a walk and a talk.” Tuller has taken on some of the authors of the PACE study and, despite threats from them, has continued to challenge their findings.

This year, Tuller will be looking at intersections between the pandemic and ME, such as concerns about whether some COVID-19 patients will develop an ME-like disease. He will be keeping an eye out for new bad research (think: CBT and GET) and keeping an eye on goings-on at the CDC, the NIH and elsewhere.

Last year, Tuller successfully raised money through Crowdrise  in order to continue investigating and blogging about the PACE trial. The funds went to the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, which created a position for Tuller to continue his investigative work. Now, a year later, the funds have run out, and Tuller has to depend on the generosity of our community to continue his work.

PLEASE DONATE HERE!

Why We Care

BREAKING: A generous donor has offered a matching grant of a thousand dollars. In the donor’s words, “I want to convey how our patient community provides family for one another when our families may not be so supportive. A small inheritance means that I can give when my family did not. It transforms some of that loss.”

You can donate HERE.

…………………………

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are falling, and the weather is turning snappy. Soon, families will gather around the table for holiday feasts. We will give thanks that we are together, share the bounty of the harvest, and enjoy the warmth and comfort we feel when those we love surround us.

For people with ME/CFS the holidays present a challenge. Even for those of us who have warm, loving families, it is difficult to rise to the occasion. We are exhausted easily by interactions, no matter how pleasant those may be. We can’t talk with our relatives as much as we would like, sit through long dinners with them, and participate fully in family rituals.

The holidays present even more of a challenge for those who have no family to share the holidays with. This is an especially painful time for people whose families have ostracized them.

Kristy’s Story

“Kristy” is one of the applicants to the AMMES financial crisis fund. She is severely ill, and lives alone. Her father threw her out of the house when she got pregnant and her boyfriend abandoned her. Kristy had the baby, but was too ill to care for it, so she was forced to give up her child for adoption. She keeps trying, unsuccessfully, to make her family understand how sick she is.

“They just don’t believe me,” she told me in a recent conversation. “They say ‘Why don’t you get up and find a job? You’re just lazy.’” Kristy is so weak she can barely brush her hair. It takes her days to recover from going to the corner to buy food. AMMES has sent her money for food, but she has still lost fifteen pounds, and she was thin to begin with.

“I’m scared,” she says. “I don’t think I will survive.”

Abandonment and Rejection

Kristy isn’t the only person who has applied to the AMMES financial crisis fund for help after being abandoned. Another woman, who I will call Laura, was rejected by her family, and worse.

“My brother told me to just kill myself,” she told me. “I really don’t have family that cares or understands or is safe for me to seek help from. I don’t know which is worse anymore, the disease itself and how it hurts me or the hatred and selfish disregard for my life from other people.”

Laura is housebound. She can only leave her home every seven to ten days to shop for food. In between grocery shopping, she rests to recuperate her strength. Life is a continuous battle for Laura.

What we can do

Laura and Kristy are just two of the applicants who have reported ostracism, neglect, abandonment, and outright hostility from family members, partners, and friends. All too often they say that I am the only person they can trust. This is heartbreaking. We all need friends and family members we can trust.

Let’s make the holidays joyous for those in our community who have suffered the sting of rejection. Let’s include them in our celebrations. Let’s give them the gift of caring.

Please donate to the AMMES fall fundraiser. So far, we have given people like Kristy and Laura over $75,000 in direct aid to help them pay their rent, utilities, medical expenses, food, and other basic necessities. Every penny that is donated will be spent to serve this neglected population.

Our Crowdrise Fall Fundraiser is HERE.

Our goal is to raise ten thousand dollars. That will see us through the next three months.

You can donate directly to our financial crisis fund HERE.

AMMES is a 501(c)(3) national nonprofit. Your donations are tax deductible.

Please Help David Tuller, Our Champion!

David Tuller’s fundraiser is now live! Tuller has been tireless in his battle against the GET/CBT ideological onslaught! He has much more work to do and he needs our support.

Tuller has been touring the globe, speaking about the harm the PACE trial has caused ME/CFS patients. Recently, he co-authored a critical paper, Rethinking the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome—a reanalysis and evaluation of findings from a recent major trial of graded exercise and CBT, that was published in BMC Psychology.

Tuller has written more than seventy-five  posts on Vincent Racaniello’s Virology Blog, spanning seven years. His articles comprise a full history of how the PACE trial was used to mislead health care providers into thinking ME/CFS could be cured with “a walk and a talk.” Tuller has taken on some of the authors of the PACE study and, despite threats from them, has continued to challenge their findings.

Last year, Tuller successfully raised money through Crowdrise  in order to continue investigating and blogging about the PACE trial. The funds went to the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, which created a position for Tuller to continue his investigative work. Now, a year later, the funds have run out, and Tuller has to depend on the generosity of our community to continue his work.

Please donate HERE!

Help Desperate Patients Get Crisis Support!

 

AMMES’ Crowdrise campaign to raise funds for emergency aid for patients in financial crisis was successful! We raised $10,000 in online donations and in checks sent separately by donors. AMMES has already begun processing applications to the fund. A big THANK YOU to everyone who donated!

So any patients are disabled and unable to work. Assistance at the right time can go a long way. Our mission is to help patients and their families in practical ways. This is one of them.

This is the description that appeared on Crowdrise. The campaign ended on May 11, 2018. You can still donate to this fund HERE.

“Between 836,000 and 2.5 million Americans suffer from ME/CFS. One quarter of these patients are severely ill, and are either bedbound or housebound. Severely ill patients are unable to work, and many are denied disability. The financial crisis generated by a loss of income coupled with rising costs of medical care can force patients to forego necessary care and medication. In some cases, patients may even lose their homes and end up living in cars. In order to assist patients in need, AMMES is setting up a crisis fund to provide one-time grants to patients for specific needs. The funds can be used to purchase a wheelchair, pay a medical bill, hire home care, secure adequate housing, and other basic needs. All applicants will be required to provide written medical confirmation of their diagnosis, proof of financial need, and document the specific purpose of the grant. Where possible, a phone interview will be conducted. (Some severely ill patients cannot speak.) Any patient within the United States and its territories is eligible.”