Welcome

Welcome to the home for May 12th International Awareness Day information. May 12th has been designated as International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND) since 1992. The CIND illnesses include Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM), Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).

May 12th was chosen as it is the birthday of Florence Nightingale. She was believed to have suffered from ME/CFS. In 2010, a write-up was done to give a history of May 12th.

Every year a number of events are held to mark May 12th. They will either be held on May 12th or sometime during the month of May. So please mark your calendar and join us on every May 12th and help raise awareness. Event news will be available on Facebook, Twitter and this site. There will be something for everyone!

Can you help? It is important that we hold as many activities as possible each year to raise awareness of May12th. Activities can be as simple as wearing a May 12th shirt or as complex as arranging a large gathering with speakers and media attention. Big or small – every activity helps. Please see “May 12th Awareness Ideas” for some suggestions to help raise awareness. Let us know if you can help.

While May 12th is our day of awareness, we also promote awareness all year long so check in regularly to see what’s new on our Information page.

If you are planning an awareness event or have ideas for raising awareness, please use the “Contact Us” form to let us know

If you haven’t already, please add yourself to the World Map of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis /Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & Fibromyalgia.

This site is intended to be a companion site to our Facebook page May 12th – International ME/CFS & FM Awareness Day and other social media sites. You don’t need a Facebook account to view it, so please take a look.

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”