Thanks to the almost 400 people who contributed $35,747 to Health Rising’s end-of-year fundraiser. Raising almost 40% more funding from 70% more contributors than last year, it was an astounding success for us. We also reached our 1000th contributor since the website opened in late 2014 (woo-woo!). Thanks to everyone!
Thanks to you, Health Rising exceeded its target, bringing in 38% more donations than it did during last year’s drive.
It’s a good thing, too, because we have lots planned for 2019.
2019
Lives Interrupted – Designed to vividly display the costs of having ME/CFS, the Lives Interrupted program was (finally) ready to go until I decided to add a new feature – which threw a big wrench into the gears. We had to buy a different piece of software, which in turn required Stavya, Health Rising’s web ace, to come up with some major tweaks. Fingers crossed, it will be up this month.
Major New Program – Using the proceeds from the donation drive, Health Rising has made its first major purchase of a software program that will greatly enhance our ability to provide more comprehensive information on ME/CFS and FM. We’ll be announcing it shortly.
Q & A Program – We will also begin the ME/CFS Experts Q & A program. Unless it has fallen apart from disuse – which is a possibility – the program is complete and we’ll get it going.
Secret Program! – One more program, which builds on a component part of the Lives Interrupted program, is underway as well and will hopefully be ready in the first quarter of this year.
Website Organization – over the next week, I will finish organizing the over 1,000 articles on the website.
Thanks Again!
Thanks to everyone for their support during the year – the contributions, the encouraging words – they all make a difference. Thanks to the Open Medicine Foundation, the Simmaron Research Foundation, the HHV-6 Foundation, the Solve ME/CFS Initiative, and ProHealth for sponsoring Health Rising, and to Ethica.io for hosting it free of charge.
Particular thanks go to Marilyn and another editor for their rapid-fire editing of hundreds of articles – all done free of charge. Thanks to the two individuals who stepped in to provide vitally needed research papers – Health Rising could not function without them. Thanks to my family for providing their generous support. 
I wish I could tell them in words they would understand – but thanks to River and Skye for their affection and companionship. They are great road companions.
Finally, thanks to my partner for her undaunting support! My life has been much richer with you in it 🙂
Cort.. you are a star!! This community would be stumbling around in the dark without you!
Thank you, thank you. I am grateful for you.
?Jeanie
Thanks, as always, for your support Jeanie 🙂
The work you are doing is wonderful. Thank you and happy new year.
Thanks Linda…I’m excited about the year ahead.
Congrats on your blog, fundraising and such terrific support Cort !! Your work, perseverance, grasp of and relationship to the ME/CFS research and research community, the frequency with which you post, your thoughtful comments – and now your latest new plans – never cease to amaze me. It’s an honor to be a tiny part of Health Rising !! Happy New Year and looking forward to what’s next.
Thanks again for sharing your blogs and your thoughts Veronique. I’m excited to finally be moving on these projects.
Thank you for the effort you make. It is a great help!
Glad to hear it! Thanks Mike.
So pleased you have raised the funds you need to keep us informed and educated about issues and new research. I for one depend on Health Rising, and you Cort, to wade through the research and help make sense of it for me. We Theater Majors sometimes don’t have the scientific mindset nor the education needed to fully understand the research jargon and the implications of what it means. If research papers were published with stage directions, for those of us in the Cast of Characters who have this disease, we’d be spot on mark!
All the worlds a stage 🙂 – just different stages I guess. Let’s hope that this play – looking more like a tragedy right now has a good and heroic ending – and before too long.
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more” 🙂 🙂 🙂
Woo-hoo, Cort! What a great message to start the New Year off with. You give us so much. Looking forward to more in 2019. Cheers!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks for all you do for our community, Cort. I agree, we would be in the dark without your excellent work. Congratulations on your ongoing work and happy new year to you and your partner. (And thanks to all who contribute to this vital work.)
This is why I donated the little I could because hearing all the breakthroughs in ME/CFS on Health Rising has given me hope and kept me sane. And that’s worth every penny. If anyone else thinks the same it’s probably not too late to send Health Rising even a few dollars if you can
Right on, Brendan!!
Woo-woo – thanks Brendan!
Amen to that, Brendan!
Thank you, thank you, Cort. We all need and rely on you!
Ditto what they all said, Cort… we’d be ‘stumbling around in the dark” without you and people like you who give so much of yourselves to make sense of all this. I can’t appreciate you enough for all you do and for all the ways I am blessed by it.
Thanks so much for all that you do Cort!
If you don’t mind me taking a pulse on your opinion, as a patient who’s only been afflicted for 2 years, I greatly value the depth of knowledge you have. Do you sense we are making progress (biomarkers, treatment) in this field?
I think the most impressive thing is the breadth of research from some really, really good researchers. We actually have two treatment trials going – can’t remember when that happened last – plus check out Vince Lombardi’s fascinating SMCI study that will look for repurposed drugs.
If we can crack the NIH funding nut and get some more funding there I think this fascinating field – it really is a fascinating field – will take off when other researchers learn more about it. So yes, we are definitely making progress – and we need to focus on getting more funding.
Cort, my gratitude is eternal. You are a never-ending resource for all us patients. You have helped me enormously, as I have incorporated so much of your content into my lifestyle. 35+ year patient here…it has been a journey. Who knew? Onward!
Indeed! Who knew? Who would have ever guessed?
Thanks so much for your support Maren 🙂
I’m new here, but thank you for all you are doing. I am scared but hopeful❤️
What you do with Health Rising has changed so many lives for the better, including my daughter. While we not been able to find anyone willing to give my daughter IV iron, dramatic increases in her iron supplementation have generated improvement, as only one of several improvements she has experienced due to information we found through you.
Because of Health Rising I am able to stay abreast of most of the current research and various treatments and approaches to ME/CFS in less than half the time it took me before I found Health Rising.
I am a small monthly contributor and hope someday to offer much more.
THANK YOU.
Thanks D! I’m so glad the iron is helping. It’s such an intriguing possibility. I hope more research is done on it. Thanks for your support and sharing with others why. Much appreciated!