The KnoW M.E. Challenge
 - Say it. Know it. Cure it!

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The KnoW M.E. Challenge, created by ME patient, Tom Jarrett and his family, is now running on Facebook.

The challenge is to make a video of yourself (or a friend) saying "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis" three times in a row without practicing. If you make a mistake merely trying to say the name of the disease (highly probable, as the name is a mouthful!), then it is suggested to donate to M.E. advocacy and research.

The purpose is to have a little fun while creating name recognition and awareness for the disease, and to also raise money for advocacy and research.

Donations can be made to MEadvocacy.org for the National PR Campaign for ME and to the Open Medicine Foundation for the End ME/CFS Project.

The Challenge has been running less than a week and already has close to 300 likes.

To participate in the KnoW M.E. Challenge, go to the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/KnoW-ME-Challenge/816247738446565

 

Showing 3 reactions

  • Colleen Steckel
    commented 2015-02-02 13:59:53 -0500
    This is a great way to raise awareness!
  • Tom Jarrett
    commented 2015-01-30 01:15:31 -0500
    Good points, Kira. Even though Facebook is our primary tool to spread the KnoW M.E. Challenge, it is also already active on Youtube, Twitter, Email, and probably more.

    The original video with instructions is on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DfDFJW_1o8

    We have several videos uploaded on the Jarrett family youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeBMSwv072aXb16mpRcuXZg

    You can copy and paste the instructions shown in the video descriptions when you post your own video, and like you said, it works well to nominate 2 or 3 friends to take the challenge. If doing by youtube, you would probably have to email those people, and also email Christine at [email protected] so we can post your video to our FB challenge page as well.

    Here it is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CJarrett4/status/558765025603485698

    Be creative – get the challenge out there any way you can think of. There is a thread on Phoenix Rising about it, and OMF mentioned it in their newest newsletter.

    There is a good possibility a famous person will be taking the challenge soon, but I don’t want to say who until it happens. How’s that for a tease? Famous or not, though, the challenge is gaining popularity, and healthy and sick alike can get involved with generating awareness and fundraising for M.E. – advocacy that is simple and fun IMHO.
  • Kira Moore
    commented 2015-01-29 15:25:21 -0500
    I love your idea!! But there are many of us who are not on facebook (for various reasons) who would like to participate. Maybe we could just post the videos to youtube? Also, (and since I haven’t seen them, you may already be doing this in the videos) perhaps the person making the video could (as done in the ice bucket challenge) nominate 3 more people to take the challenge. It would be fantastic if we could get celebrities to to do it!! Or maybe the challenge include eating a cracker before trying to say the name, adding some humor to gain attention. Thanks for a great idea