Our mum, Kate Mincher, has been suffering from ME for 19 years. She became ill when Christina and I were very young and has missed out on so many things most people take for granted. Things that most of us find relaxing, like meeting up with friends, going to the cinema or out for a coffee, can exhaust her physically and mentally and bring on such symptoms as palpitations, discomfort all over her body, dizziness, respiratory problems and a feeling of being poisoned. Most of us can rest when we are exhausted and feel recuperated but Mum can feel dreadful for days or weeks at a time.

ME, or CFS as it is sometimes called, desperately needs more research. Thankfully there are now many more doctors and scientists who are becoming interested in finding causes and potential cures, but it all needs money. Christina and I, along with our friends Matt Austin, and Nicole Mardon, want to do our bit to show support for our mum and the huge number of people around the world who have ME/CFS and related illnesses.

We want to raise money for Invest in ME, a charity that is run on an entirely voluntary basis by sufferers and parents of children suffering from M.E. Every penny they receive goes towards finding the cause and cure for this life-changing illness whilst also trying to educate health care organisations and the public. Their most recent push is to raise funds for Biomedical Research into ME and have already laid foundations for a UK Centre of Excellence for ME Research.

So what exactly is M.E.?.....ME is a debilitating illness that affects 250,00 people in the UK (a prevalence higher than HIV or multiple sclerosis) and around 17 million worldwide. 25% of sufferers are severely affected to the point they are effectively house or bed-bound. 10% are children. There is no cure. Even the cause is unknown, as so little research has been funded to date, although it often follows a viral infection. ME is thought to be primarily a neurological disease with symptoms such as extreme physical and mental exhaustion, muscle weakness and paralysis, joint pain, head pain, blurred vision and severe dizziness or blackouts, vertigo, insomnia, respiratory problems, noise and light sensitivities, cognitive impairment, digestive problems and a host of other symptoms.

ME can hit anyone - strong men, active women, healthy children - at any time and without warning. It can last anything from a few months to a lifetime. ME has a devastating effect on people’s lives yet so little is being done by the medical profession who still do not understand the illness. Sufferers feel misunderstood, misjudged and isolated.