Let’s welcome our newest members: @P R @Caitlin Jones @Stacia Roundtree @Cindy Marks @Christy Deice I’m glad you found us! We’ve already got some great conversations going, so jump in wherever something catches your attention. And please feel free to introduce yourself, ask questions, share what you’ve been researching—or bring us something new to take a second look at. 😊 Glad you’re here!

One of our members recently asked if I would share my own journey with ME/CFS because they have a family member living with the condition. I have to say... I really admire that. Sometimes the person asking the questions isn't the one who's sick. It's... ❤️ a spouse ❤️ a parent ❤️ a sibling ❤️ a child ❤️ a friend Someone trying to understand something that can be incredibly difficult to explain from the outside. I remember doing exactly that for my sister, who has debilitating asthma. When someone you love is struggling, you read...research...ask questions...and hope that one more piece of information might make a difference. ❤️ My story isn't just about ME/CFS. It's about living a full life while carrying an illness most people couldn't see. Over nearly fifty years, I was... ✅ A daughter ✅ A sister ✅ A wife ✅ A mother ✅ A teacher ✅ A graduate student ✅ A two-time master's graduate ✅ Someone with multiple careers ✅ Someone who kept showing up, even when it was hard ✅ Someone determined not to let an illness define my entire identity From the outside... my life probably looked pretty ordinary. Behind the scenes... nearly every commitment came with an energy calculation. 🏡 Every family gathering. 💼 Every workday. 🎄 Every holiday. ✈️ Every vacation. 🤝 Every promise I made. 🌅 Every opportunity I considered. ❓ Every decision came with the same question: "Will I have enough energy...and what will this cost me afterward?" People saw me functioning. They rarely saw the recovery afterward. 📚 Along the way I accumulated far more than a diagnosis. I accumulated... ❓ Questions ⛰️ Setbacks 🏆 Victories 💔 Disappointments 🌅 Hope 📖 Lessons 🩺 Countless medical appointments 🧪 More tests than I can remember 💊 Treatments that helped ⚠️ Treatments that didn't 🚧 Treatments that made things worse 📋 New diagnoses 🧩 Diagnoses that didn't quite fit 💡 And an endless curiosity about why. ✅ BUT... 🔍 I never completely stopped searching. 💡 Then one day... I realized something. I'd essentially written a book. Not because I planned to.