Name: Priscilla FalcãoPronouns: she/herAge: 46Home: Salvador, BrazilSick for: 7 years I’ve always had a very fragile immune system, so my illness is probably post-viral. I feel like I only have 10-20% of the energy capacity I had before I got sick. If doctors were trained to deal with ME/CFS, I could certainly have a much […]| World ME Alliance
Name: MaxPronouns: he/himAge: 36Home: Lviv, UkraineSick for: 18 years Back in 2006 I was a perfectly healthy, vibrant 2nd year University student studying molecular physics in Kyiv, Ukraine. I caught pneumonia and first thought nothing of it, but later had to spend 2 weeks in hospital to recover. I was discharged, yet I felt something […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Una Alexia KarlsenPronouns: she/herAge: 42Home: Cape Town, South AfricaSick for: 20 years (Content warning: medically assisted dying) In 2020, during the Cape Town Pride parade, I collapsed, just half a block from the start. If I tried to stand up I would become dizzy, my heart rate would shoot way up, and I’d fall […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Dr Muhammad ShafiqAge: 62.5Pronouns: he/himHome: Lahore, PakistanSick for: about 50 years I was born in a small town in Pakistan. I think my illness was triggered by influenza and compounded by adverse childhood experiences. I managed to complete my medical studies when I was mild to moderately affected (at 60-70% capacity) and struggled through […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Kelly Sullivan Ruta Pronouns: she/her Age: 52 Home: Wake Forest, USA How many years sick?: 9 My illness was originally triggered by an Epstein-Barr infection. Prior to getting COVID, I had returned to 70% capacity from 40%. I was completely bedbound for 6 weeks and then 25-30% for ten months. Now I am at […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Nevra Elis Ahmed Pronouns: she/her Age: 28 Home: Karachi, Pakistan How many years sick?: 22 Nevra had to abandon answering questions because it exhausted her too much. Her story was instead compiled from Whatsapp conversations over the course of a few weeks before and after she had to move house: When I was 5 […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Daniela Herrera Villarreal Pronouns: she/her Age: 38 Home: Mexico City Sick for: 6 years I have a genetic syndrome, Charcot Marie Tooth, whose symptoms worsened after two simultaneous infections, one in the throat and another digestive. Before, my symptoms were manageable. After the infections, weakness and extreme fatigue set in. I was unable to […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Ivana Andrade Age: 34 Pronouns: she/her Home: São Paulo, Brazil Sick for: 10 years I’ve always felt more tired than other people, but was led to believe for many years that this was laziness or depression. At some point in my life I had mononucleosis but we don’t know if it was that virus […]| World ME Alliance
Name: Mlindeni Gabela Pronouns: he/him Age: 41 years old Home: Cape Town, South Africa Sick for: 4 years After I was hospitalised by COVID-19 in 2020, I developed Long Covid and was diagnosed with ME 2 years later. I lost my job as a mixer in an industrial bakery as I couldn’t physically lift and […]| World ME Alliance