The following was put in the Reading Chronicle this week, as a result of receiving the video from Gordon Brown.
Reading Chronicle: 18th September, 2008
PM tells Miriam how things stand
A Reading ME sufferer has been holding a personal video dialogue with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Miriam Potter, from Reading Area ME group, posted a video on Youtube via a special Ask the PM session advertised in a Number 10 newsletter, and asked Mr Brown what the Government is doing to help people with the condition, how doctors are being trained to help people and what research was being undertaken to find a cause and cure.
In a personal response, also posted on Youtube, Mr Brown says: “ME affects about one in 300 people in the United Kingdom so it’s a condition we take very seriously indeed. A lot of work has gone into this over the last four years in the NHS where £8.5m has been spent.
“The Medical Research Council has made it clear that research into ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Miriam, is something we are taking very seriously indeed. It’s a big part of the research programme for the future and I hope we will be able to report results in due course that will show that not only has the research been done, but it has yielded results that will benefit you and many other people.”
Miriam said she was ‘gob-smacked’ to receive a response, and added: “I opened it and went ‘wow!’ I couldn’t believe it, and when they mention you by name you hope they’ve listened to what you have to say.”
Miriam
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