ME/CFS Society of WA: Fundraising to bring Dr. Byron Hyde to Australia in 2010.

Dr. Byron Hyde is one of the worlds leading experts in ME/CFS. He has spent ~25 years studying ME/CFS and has travelled extensively around the world investigating epidemics of M.E. in the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Iceland. You can view his biography online HERE. He will likely be coming to Australia in 2010, including Perth. An eastern states ME/CFS group who is organising his Australian visit is launching a fundraising effort with details below.

Just letting you all know that a couple of friends and I have 2010 Desk Calendars as a fundraising effort related to ME and CFS, in order to bring a world specialist - Dr Hyde - to Australia next year. We have combined our photographic skills and contributed 4 photos each to make this calendar :>. Josie and I have the illness and Jayne is Josie's mother and full-time carer.

A picture of the cover of the calendar is attached to this email, and information about the calendar is at the following web page:

       http://www.meandcfsfriends.com/calendar.html

They are being offered on a sliding scale between $10 - $15 (+ postage) so that people can contribute what they can best afford. Anyone wanting to place an order can do so via the `Contact Us' page on the website, or can be in touch with me personally via this email address. They should be ready by next week (week beg Nov 23), tho we are taking orders from now. The main aim of the fundraising is to cover the cost of Dr Hyde's international airfares.

We are not attached to any other major group or body, though I am happy to say that we have had promising expressions of interest and support from a number of the ME/CFS organisations around the country, including from the National Body. The illness is poorly understood or supported here so bringing a well experienced and knowledgeable doctor to our shores will hopefully go some way to helping improve the standard of diagnosis, understanding, and respect given to it...... which is definitely needed. Every bit helps, right?!! :>

For more information about our project and Dr Hyde, the home address for the website is:

       http://www.meandcfsfriends.com/

(N.B; the above address is just the home page - there are links to a number of pages attached to the site which can be found along the top of each page)

We would also really appreciate it if you could pass this onto anyone else you know who may be interested. And of course any other contributions to the effort are also welcome. Thanks for any support!

cheers
Sylvie