My name is Anna Redshaw and I created an accessible fundraising event in 2013 for people living with the stigmatised and misunderstood illness Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E. often referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).
This year will mark ten years since its creation. To me, Blue Sunday shows the immense strength one can get from community, in whatever form that takes. For me, as someone living with M.E. since 2010, that is online community as my illness leaves me mostly housebound and unable to have regular human contact through visitors.
The premise of the fundraising event is simple enough that it allows many of those suffering with M.E. to participate from their own sick beds; something that had not previously been done. Named Blue Sunday, the Tea Party For M.E. the event is now celebrated internationally with people coming together online to share photos of their own tea party set-up from wherever they are in the world.
With £70,000 raised since 2013, by some of the most debilitated members of society, Blue Sunday shows the power of online community in the absence of medical care or understanding. Incredibly unwell people desperate to feel a part of something after being omitted from society, are planning to come together again this year on Sunday 14th May (which marks the end of International ME/CFS Awareness week).
With the influx of new patients suffering with post-viral fatigue illness as a result of the pandemic, more people than ever are realising that some people become unwell and never recover. But Blue Sunday continues to show people that they are not alone or forgotten, and that joy can come from even the harshest circumstances. All whilst fundraising for the charities who support us.
I would love for you to join me and the M.E. community a week on Sunday.
More information about Blue Sunday can be found at http://www.the-slow-lane.com/blue-sunday
M.E. myself and I 