360 sportspeople — including Olympians Dina Asher-Smith and Tom Daley — have signed a letter calling on the prime minister to meet former sprinter Beth Dobbin and increase funding towards ME research.
Beth Dobbin (Credits: BBC Sport)
Dobbin, 32, recently revealed she had been diagnosed with “life-decimating” ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) and as a result spends more than 22 hours a day in bed. On October 21, she wrote to the prime minister but received no response — and she has now been backed by athletes across the sporting world.
Beth Dobbin’s ME Plea to the Prime Minister
“For many of my team-mates, I dropped off the face of the earth four years ago when I developed severe ME,” Dobbin said. “I’ve been taken aback and extremely touched by how many of them — and so many others in the sports world — have jumped at the chance to help by signing this letter. It means so much to me.”
Among the 360 signatories are Everton manager David Moyes, US women’s counterpart Emma Hayes, and former Chelsea and England centre-back Millie Bright. Athletes Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan and Adam Gemili are among 114 Olympians and Paralympians to have added their support.
ME Research Funding Figures
The letter calls on the government to “level the playing field” for funding into ME research with that for other illnesses. It states that between 2019 and 2024, UK government research funders committed just £6.6m for research into ME, compared to £79.1m for Parkinson’s and £496.4m for dementia.
ME is a chronic, fluctuating disease causing sleep problems, issues with thinking and memory, pain, and severe persistent fatigue that does not improve with rest. It has no known cure or specific treatment, and more than 400,000 people in the UK are thought to have it.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
