 |
Email the Society |
 |
Donations |
ME/CFS AUSTRALIA (SA) INC
Registered Charity 698
Mailing address:
GPO Box 383,
Adelaide,
South Australia 5001
Office:
266 Port Road,
Hindmarsh,
South Australia 5007
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
('834 MECFS')
Office Hours:
Wednesdays, 10am-3pm
Support Line:
(Mondays and Thursdays,
10am-3pm)
Ph: (08) 8346 3237
SA country callers:
Ph: 1300 128 339
(local call)
FIBROMYALGIA HELP: Contact Fibromyalgia SA at the Arthritis Foundation of SA 118 Richmond Road, Marleston 5033 Ph: (08) 8379 5711 |
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc supports the needs of sufferers of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and related illnesses. We do this by providing services and information to members.
|
Disclaimer
ME/CFS Australia (SA) Inc aims to keep members informed of the various research projects, diets, medications, therapies etc. All communication, both verbal and written, is merely to disseminate information and not to make recommendations or directives.
Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this Web site are not necessarily the official views of the Society or its Committee and are not simply an endorsement of products or services.
| Become a Member | |||
|
ME research charity flourishes in modest surroundings
Friday 11 September 2009
The UK's Watford Observer has an article about the CFS Research Foundation:
Think of a cutting-edge medical research institution and you’d be forgiven for imagining a gleaming grass fronted clinic set against among the rolling hills of Switzerland; supported by a multi-million pound budget and staffed by hoards of white coated researchers.
Yet, nestled away in a quiet corner of Sarratt Village exists a determined group at the very forefront of the battle against one of the most baffling, debilitating illnesses known to the medical world – Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Commonly known as ME, the illness affects more than 250,000 patients in the UK alone; confining many sufferers to bed and leaving countless others unable to enjoy a normal life.
Sympathy, however, has for a long-time been in short supply, with many sufferers exposed to ridicule and contempt – in many cases by the medical profession itself, which has been unable to find a definitive cause (let alone a cure) since the condition was first classified in the 1960s.
The CFS Research Foundation, run by a small team of trustees, part-time staff and volunteers from a garden office in the village, has, since its launch in 1993, fought to right these wrongs, commissioning more than £1 milllion of research and helping to educate the professional world.
Charity director Anne Faulkner founded the charity with her late husband after witnessing the effects of the illness on a close family member. Her goal is to improve understanding, research treatments and develop a diagnostic test.
She said: “We’re fighting against a really cruel and debilitating illness; to help find a cure and also to educate people about the condition.
“It affects people in different ways; some simply can’t get out of bed and others can just about hold down a full-time job but collapse into bed at the end of it.
“I doubt there will be a single cure in my life-time but our understanding is growing all the time and people’s attitudes are changing.
“In the past, many people, including doctors, would just say ‘pull yourself together and get on with it’. There was a real stigma attached to it.
"But as a foundation we’ve achieved some great results with some of the leading academics in the field.”
These results have directly contributed to an enhanced understanding of the 88 genes damaged by the condition.
Mrs Faulkner admits the foundation is far from typical. It is, however, successful.
She added: “When we first started people said we would get nowhere with it; that we could discover nothing on our own.
“But in the last few years we’ve really moved mountains. You don’t need luxury offices to get things done.”
The full article can be found here.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Previous Page |
