#LemonChallengeMECFS – raising awareness for ME/CFS and calling for donations for more research

With the #LemonChallengeMECFS, we want to raise awareness of ME/CFS – a severe, often invisible disease that affects over 40 million people worldwide, including many children.

We provide information about the disease, instructions on how to participate, WhatsApp images/instructions and sample videos at https://LemonChallengeMECFS.org Anleitungen zum Mitmachen, WhatsApp Bilder/Anleitungen und Beispiel-Videos bereit. Jeder kann diese Aktion unterstützen, auch ohne vorher “nominiert” zu werden.

Please note: The bite into a lemon is intended as a symbolic gesture for the challenge. Having ME/CFS is, of course, something completely different! Under what is ME/CFS? on our website, we provide information on the clinical picture with updated data, FAQ, sources and links, e.g. to the Charité Fatigue Center (CFC).

Joerg Heydecke and Christoph Zamaitat from ME/CFS Research Foundation explain in two videos why there is not that one sentence, that one image or the one gesture that can adequately explain the complex clinical picture of ME/CFS. We hope that patients and their families see our call for the #LemonChallengeMECFS as an opportunity to raise awareness of ME/CFS far beyond the usual circles. After all, greater engagement by society would help everyone working for more ME/CFS research and better care for the many patients worldwide.

Please support the #LemonChallengeMECFS and share our website, social media posts and the link to the donation page with your friends and networks!

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How can you support the work of the ME/CFS Research Foundation?

There is still a long way to go before diagnosis, care and treatment of ME/CFS patients will one day become a medical and social standard. We at the ME/CFS Research Foundation are focussing on biomedical research, which we see as the key element in solving these problems (more on this in our research funding strategy and in our half-year report (summer 2024), which summarises our activities). To do this, we need extensive support from private donors – those affected, relatives, families, friends, associations, schools, networks, companies, initiatives, event organisers and all supporters. And if you are not able to provide direct support, you can share our story and motivate others to help. Because only together can such a feat be achieved.

We fully translate donations and other support into scientifically excellent research, networking and ultimately visible successes, i.e. better ME/CFS diagnostics and therapies. We are happy to work together with other organisations and initiatives - please contact us!

And please extend our reach and follow us on social media (external links below). THANK YOU!