A total of 360 people from across the sporting world have signed a letter calling on UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham to meet former sprinter Beth Dobbin and commit to increased funding for research into myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
The signatories include Olympians Dina Asher-Smith and Tom Daley, Everton manager David Moyes, England and United States women’s football managers Emma Hayes, and former Chelsea and England defender Millie Bright. A total of 114 Olympians and Paralympians, including Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan and Adam Gemili, have also added their names.
Dobbin, 32, recently told BBC Sport that she had been diagnosed with “life-decimating” ME and now spends more than 22 hours a day in bed. She wrote to the prime minister on 21 October but said she received no response.
“For many of my team-mates, I dropped off the face of the earth four years ago when I developed severe ME,” Dobbin said. She added that she had been “extremely touched” by the support from people across sport and hoped it would lead to “real change” for the ME community.
ME is a chronic, fluctuating illness associated with symptoms including severe fatigue that does not improve with rest, sleep problems, pain and difficulties with thinking and memory. There is currently no known cure or specific treatment.
More than 400,000 people in the UK are thought to have ME, although the actual figure could be above one million. The condition can range from allowing people to work or study to requiring round-the-clock care and tube feeding.
The letter asks the government to “level the playing field” between ME research funding and investment in other illnesses. It says UK government research funders committed £6.6m to ME research between 2019 and 2024, compared with £79.1m for Parkinson’s disease and £496.4m for dementia.
Dobbin decided to discuss her illness publicly despite the risk that the interview could worsen her condition. She has since experienced several bad days and said she has had enough physical strength to take a bath only once a week.
ME can involve more than 200 symptoms, including nausea, headaches, impaired cognitive function and brain fog. Physical or sensory activity, and even conversation, can trigger a “crash” lasting from 24 or 48 hours to several months.
Dobbin said the response to her interview had exceeded her expectations, with thousands of messages arriving from the UK and other countries including the United States, Canada and Australia.
Karen Hargrave, co-founder of the charity ThereForME, said the letter’s support would mean a great deal to people with ME. She called on Burnham to meet Dobbin and address what she described as a £15m funding gap for Sequence ME & Long Covid.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said ME can have a devastating effect on people’s lives and that the government was supporting research into genetic factors and potential treatments. The department also said it had published a plan with the ME community to increase research, raise awareness and support people living with the condition.
Sources: BBC Sport.