From Here ... To Where?

I write this with a growing sense of dejection, with a vastly reduced sense of hope and with an anger I cannot deny.

Those are all my personal feelings and I take complete ownership of them. They are not positive or healthy but they exist.

However, I write this entry on behalf of others rather than myself.

The Whittemore Peterson Institute existed as a beacon of hope for those with an illness where hope and progress had been in short supply. Whether it was foolish to invest such hope in an institution is an argument for another time perhaps. The point is, the WPI represented something tantalisingly appealing for those of us who felt we were not being taken seriously by the medical community.

The events of the past week or so have been extensively documented elsewhere so I will not cover that ground again in this post. What I will say is that I have observed a complete lack of compassion or engagement from the WPI towards a patient community who are desperately sick and who have probably sacrificed much in terms of personal donations and the work required to advocate on the WPI's behalf.

As the week unfolded, I tried to centre myself and put the emotion to one side. This was not easy but I managed to keep quiet about what I was observing.

Other than the sense that the WPI did not value its supporters, I was struck by the reality that they were abysmally lacking in any sort of public relations or customer service expertise. The communications coming from them were either sporadic, irrelevant or downright unprofessional.

Today, Annette Whittemore was supposedly holding a Question & Answer session via Facebook that would also address the questions/concerns that had been emailed to them (I had emailed questions in advance of this Q & A session being announced). What followed was something I can only class as a debacle from start to finish.

Pertinent questions from people who were making their health worse by taking the time and effort to be on Facebook and type out their concerns were ignored. No planning had taken place on how to structure answers or group questions into categories. In fact, it was a poorly thought out exercise that only served to make the Institute look even more inept and insular.

Instead of questions being answered, we were continually threatened with posts being removed if they contravened the Institute's 'social media policy' (whatever that might be) and were treated to the WPI's office manager telling us they were hurt by some of the comments. Forgive my lack of a bleeding heart for your hurt feelings Kellen - I place much more importance on the feelings, and poor health, of those who are now left with unanswered questions and a lack of hope for the future.

The upshot seems to be that the Vivint funds and personal donations were made to the WPI and will remain with the WPI. I am no lawyer so I cannot comment on how that stands up legally.

What seems an altogether different prospect for potential legal action is the VipDx testing that many patients paid a considerable sum of money to have. Annette Whittemore stated more than once that the results of the test had been 'clinically validated'. In light of recent events, I feel quite sure a lawyer could have a field day with this.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a patient who has donated sums of money to the WPI and I have also invested significant amounts of my rather limited energy to support them via advocacy and voting contests. I am therefore feeling some personal antagonism in relation to this whole mess.

However, my anger is mainly on behalf of those who are much more sick than I am. Those who do not have any quality of life. Those who are too sick to talk or sit up in bed. I suspect a large proportion of those who paid for tests fall into that category as such patients will want to grasp any glimmer of hope for improved health.

A divorce is usually messy and we are often forced to take sides. I am not in possession of all the facts and cannot really comment on who is to blame for us being where we are now. What I can comment on though is how I feel in my gut.

My gut tells me that Dr Mikovits has a passionate concern for the future of ALL patients with M.E. - my gut tells me the WPI do not hold the same passion or ethos. I am deliberately putting the emphasis on ALL - I am sure I do not need to spell that out further. I do not feel valued, respected or important to the organisation I donated towards and advocated for. I therefore cannot justify supporting them in the future, regardless of any promises they make about treatment options.

None of which brings me any further forward in answering the question posed in the title of this entry - From Here ... To Where?

Boring Science Stuff or Political Intrigue?

I am an absolute dimwit when it comes to science. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about science.

The only one story in town right now for the M.E. community is that Science journal asked Lombardi et al to retract their seminal paper on XMRV and the potential link to M.E. The journal also published and Editorial Expression of Concern. Thankfully, Lombardi et al have categorically refused to retract.

Did I mention I was a dimwit when it comes to science? Never hurts to re-emphasise the point. However, even this dimwit can see the absolute logic in what Dr Deckoff-Jones had to say HERE:

"It can't be both a contaminant and not there at the same time. Which is it?"

Indeed.

You can read Dr Deckoff-Jones' frank and unflinching views on what's going on in the link I posted above. As always, she shoots from the hip and doesn't mince her words. I admire that.

For a while I've had the dilemma of which organisation to support with donations and who to root for in terms of hopefully one day finding a cure so we can all have our lives back. This has now become irrelevant for me. It is no longer about whether the WPI are our saviours or whether XMRV will be the big breakthrough that leads to meaningful treatment. It is about the little guys with good intentions being bullied by the powerful.

The consequences of the WPI being 'taken out' are significant. This goes way beyond the money Annette Whittemore has ploughed into the Institute and it goes way beyond our illness. Even this dimwit knows that science is full of cases where the original discoverer is discredited and marginalised to allow someone else to end up taking the credit (and making the money!) for the discovery. I believe this is what we are witnessing here.

All of this makes me all the more determined to support the WPI. Whether they can cure me or not, this has become a matter of principle too great to ignore. I hope others feel the same way.

Why Don't the WPI have more votes?

Something is bothering me and I want to share it.

As those with chronic illnesses who read this will no doubt be aware, the Whittemore Petersen Institute (WPI) is shortlisted for a Chase Community Giving charity award. That award will be based on how many votes the WPI secures via Facebook and the amount can be up to HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.

Let's go back a step though. In becoming part of the online community of people with ME or CFS or whatever we define it as, I see active communities running into the thousands in terms of numbers of members. One desire seems to unite us - a desire for robust biomedical research to determine why we are sick and how we can be effectively treated/cured.

I'm sure you know where I'm headed with this post. Along comes a financial institution who is prepared to give up to HALF A MILLION DOLLARS to fund this research. And all we have to do is click a few buttons on Facebook and vote.

So here's what bothers me. The first round saw the WPI collect a decent enough number of votes but a tiny amount when you consider how many people are active on Facebook and have a vested interest in ME/CFS and in helping find a cure. The second round started today and we are struggling to stay in the Top 10. We are being beaten by a marching band!

It's all well and good us trying to gain votes from our friends etc but, really, votes purely from that online community I keep mentioning should see us storm this contest and bank HALF A MILLION DOLLARS.

I know I'm preaching and I know we are all sick but really there can be no second chance for something like this. We will regret it for years if we do not squeeze every cent out of this charity award. HALF A MILLION DOLLARS (last time, promise).

Anyone who reads this, the message is simple. Vote. Please. This isn't X Factor or American Idol and this isn't some lame popularity contest. This is the potential for people to get their lives back.

Full instructions below. Oh, and please don't let the 'unsecure connection' warning put you off. Nobody is going to steal your identity during the 2 minutes you use a Facebook app to vote.

Thank you.

STEP-BY-STEP Instructions:

1. From your Facebook page, go to Chase Community Giving:
http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving.

2. "Like" Chase Community Giving by clicking on the "Like" button.

3. Now search for Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease.

4. Cast your vote for WPI by clicking the "Vote Now!" button.

CHASE COMMUNITY GIVING: BIG IDEA

The Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI) was created to answer a critical need for discovery and medical treatments for those with serious illnesses that impact the body and the brain. These often debilitating and life-long diseases, including M.E., CFS, fibromyalgia, post Lyme disease, GWI and autism, have too few medical solutions. WPI continues to make significant strides through the work of their innovative research program. Translating novel research into effective patient treatments for millions around the world will begin with the opening of their 10,000 sq. ft. medical facility. Here they will engage in revealing clinical trials and provide onsite care to those who are unable to afford care. The WPI require funding for initial expenses and to establish a patient fund. WPI’s commitment to discovery has already inspired much hope worldwide. Now it is time to put hope into action by offering meaningful patient care to these underserved populations.