Join the 'Patient uprising from our beds': Melbourne MillionsMissing on 12 October

ME patients, family, friends, health practitioners and researchers are joining together to bring ME to the attention of government. Melbourne’s MillionsMissing will be on the steps of Parliament House, Spring St, Melbourne, from 1pm to 2pm on Wednesday 12 October 2016.
MillionsMissing is a global event dedicated to the millions of people who are missing from their careers, schools, social lives and families due to ME, as well as the millions of dollars missing from research and clinical education. At MillionsMissing Melbourne, ME patients and supporters will gather to ask the government to commit funding to ME diagnostic testing, better health care and research into ME commensurate with the economic burden of the disease.
Australia’s health department has spent just $1.6 million since 2000 on research into ME and CFS. Much of that has gone to researchers using potentially harmful therapies such as graded exercise therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy which are not supported by evidence.
MillionsMissing Melbourne coordinators, Jenny Meagher and Anna Kennedy, described this MillionsMissing campaign as like rallying a patient uprising from our beds.

“This MillionsMissing Melbourne campaign is operating like a relay race, each ME patient passing the baton when they inevitably fall sicker from the overexertion required to get this big event up.
“We will get there in the end, a bunch of squeaky parts hopefully making up a well-oiled campaign team.
“Of all the diseases we know about, ME is amongst the most complex and least understood in terms of its effects on multiple systems of the body, its uniquely and severely disabling impact on patients, and the level of physical suffering patients endure, particularly those who are so severely ill they are too unwell to access traditional health care services,” MillionsMissing Melbourne coordinators, Jenny Meagher and Anna Kennedy said.

RSVP for the event by clicking on one of the buttons below:


[button_color url=”http://my.meaction.net/events/millionsmissing-melbourne” content=”RSVP on my.meaction.net” target=”http://my.meaction.net/events/millionsmissing-melbourne”]
[button_color url=”https://www.facebook.com/events/1105006842906897/” content=”RSVP on Facebook” target=”https://www.facebook.com/events/1105006842906897/”]

Want to be more involved?  Join Australia’s my.meaction group or the Melbourne #MillionsMissing campaign group by clicking below!


[button_color url=”http://meaction.net/local-groups/” content=”Join Australia’s my.meaction group” target=”http://meaction.net/local-groups/”]
[button_color url=”https://www.facebook.com/groups/1115723521830128/” content=”Join Melbourne’s #MillionsMissing group” target=”https://www.facebook.com/groups/1115723521830128/”]

The team created a toolkit of resources to use on social media and for approaching your local member of parliament, plus a press release.


If you prefer a fact sheet which only uses ‘ME’, here’s The Facts: ME in Australia.


Can’t be there in person, but would like to help out?

10 Ways to Support #MillionsMissing and #MillionsMissing Melbourne to Bring Government Attention to ME
  1. Share the MillionsMissing Melbourne event page with your Facebook friends and groups: www.facebook.com/events/1105006842906897
  2. Follow us on social media:
    Facebook –   www.facebook.com/MillionsMissingMelbourne/
    Twitter –        twitter.com/MMissingMelb
    Instagram – www.instagram.com/millionsmissingmelb/
  3. Visit millionsmissing.org/learn and learn more about #MillionsMissing protests and how to support them online.
  4. Use the MillionsMissing Melbourne Toolkit to educate about ME and bring government attention to ME:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B34JAKiKv5aTQ3VFUTFpUHQyVmM/view?usp=sharing
  5. Use the MillionsMissing Melbourne Toolkit to approach your local, state, or federal politicians to bring government attention to ME:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B34JAKiKv5aTQ3VFUTFpUHQyVmM/view?usp=sharing
  6. Use the hashtags #MillionsMissing and #MillionsMissingMelbourne when communicating on social media (eg Twitter, Instagram, Facebook)
  7. Post selfies, your own story, photos of empty shoes, or pre-illness photos with your name, age, how long you have been sick and what you have been missing due to ME. See here for inspiration:
    https://www.instagram.com/millionsmissing
  8. Participate in a social media “Thunderclap” for 12 October: http://thndr.me/5TdUNm
  9. Twibbon your profile pic with a MillionsMissing logo: https://twibbon.com/Support/millionsmissing-2
  10. Join #MEAction, the global platform for ME advocacy, either online meaction.net or on Facebook www.facebook.com/MEActNet/ and contribute to this effective global movement.
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