Journal of IiMER Volume 10 Issue 1 As we approach our tenth year as a charity we may look back to some progress and a good deal of change occurring due to the efforts and determination of the charity and its supporters. As we look forward we will continue to seek change. If a disease is well understood then all aspects of patient care may improve whilst cures and treatments are being developed. Understanding of ME and finding the cause/s and pathomechanisms can only be achieved if research takes a clear stand of ME being a physical illness as a starting point and everything else is consequential. There are now enough clues, well presented over the ten years of IiME conferences that need to be followed up. Clinical trials such as the phase III rituximab trial in Norway and the UK rituximab trial project funded by Invest in ME Research give patients hope and make healthcare professionals take ME more seriously even before the trials have begun or results have been published. Even the awareness of ME patients being part of proper mainstream clinical trials makes a huge difference to the perception of this disease. This we have witnessed already. Invest in ME Research have never had any doubt of ME being anything other than a physical illness and we do not believe there is sense or reason for mixing flawed psychosocial views of the June 2016 disease with biomedical views under one umbrella. We hope that our ten years of focused approach and engaging with researchers that have the skills to help solve ME is beginning to bring results and will continue. Dear Kathleen, I just wanted to thank you all for setting up the charity and all the hard work that you have done over the last 10 years. I became ill in 2005 and you set up the charity around the same time. Your charity has given me such hope that some proper biomedical research is being done. There is a lot of positive momentum now in ME and I know the fruits of your labour over these 10 years will soon pay off big time! Kind regards – H (ME patient) By necessity Invest in ME (Research) have had to create and take opportunities in order to make progress. After ten years as a charity there are good signs of real progress and, with enough support we can make this permanent. This is a good time to be involved in ME research as we are at the beginning of making discoveries. We are optimistic for the future as patient power has made Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) www.investinme.org Page 6 of 77
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