Saturday, August 8th is Severe ME Day. It is a day of awareness raising for those suffering severe myalgic encephalomyelitis as well as a day of remembrance.

August 8th was the birthday of Sophia Mirza, a 32 year-old woman who died of ME.

Here are three ways you can observe the day:

1) Join the Twitter storm

Tweet all day all the time using the hashtag #severeme. Show solidarity and help severe ME patients trend the hashtag.

2) Remember those who have died

Today is an opportunity to remember and honor the lives of those who have died.

– National CFIDS Foundation Memorial List

– Hummingbird Foundation for ME Memorial List

3) Break the Silence

Participate in the #sufferingthesilence campaign. Whether you are a caretaker, a patient, or a friend, you can take a photo of yourself in the pose above and share it on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

Use hashtags #sufferingthesilence #MEAction and #severeme (email us or find us on Twitter or Facebook – we’d love to aggregate the photos!)

4) Share the good news

The Open Medicine Foundation has just received an anonymous $500,000 donation for their research on severely ill patients! Their study – the first of its kind – will include many bedridden subjects.

Which makes for #4.5: donate to the OMF and help them find what the severely ill can teach us about ME.

How will you observe severe ME day?

Photo credit: Elaine Boel