For a lot of people living with ME/CFS or Long COVID, spring arrives second-hand. The blossom on the walk to the shops, the first properly warm afternoon, the birds getting busier. All of it happening just outside a window, or a few streets away, and out of reach.
That is the small problem Discoveries for ME sets out to solve.
The idea is two people and a tiny mission.
Find me something yellow in nature.
Find me the fluffiest dog.
Find me the most unexpected thing you see.
One person keeps the mission in mind as they go about their day, then brings back what they found. A photograph, a short video, a voice note, or something small enough to fit in a pocket. Nobody makes a special trip, and a discovery doesn’t have to be extraordinary. It just has to be something shared.
Either person can start it. Someone living with ME/CFS or Long COVID might ask for a discovery. Someone thinking of them might offer to make one. Then they choose the mission together, and what comes back can stay entirely between them, or be shared with #DiscoveriesForME.
For anyone who would like their discovery to do a little more, there’s an option to raise funds for ME/CFS and Long COVID research alongside it. That part is optional. Connection is the point.
Because every discovery says, I was thinking of you.
Discoveries for ME is a campaign of Open Medicine Foundation Australia, part of the global Open Medicine Foundation research network.