Maria Gjerpe TEDx talk on the MEandYOU crowdfunding for the Norwegian rituximab trial

I'm amazed I never heard of this! It was uploaded a year ago and has had only 1,500 views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQhSHugRODY

Maria is my hero(ine)! She's the reason we got a rituximab trial, IMO. She's a previously bedbound medical doctor who recovered from her ME/CFS following rtx treatment in a pilot study by Fluge and Mella and decided to dedicate three solid months to fundraising for a full trial.

She did an incredible job, got a huge profile for the study in Norway, raised a ton of money and shamed the Norwegian government into coughing up the rest.

Here's her old site: http://www.meyou.no/this-is/

It's fantastic to see that she describes herself as 'healthy and sound'.

 

Don't know if you're interested in passing on the link to that talk, @Tom Kindlon? I think a lot of people would want to know what happened to Maria and will be pleased to see her doing well.

 

I saw Maria on TV in a makeover TV programme some years ago. I didn´t know about her and her history at that time, so it was amazing to see her. She looked radiant, energetic and was a very postive person. Trinny and Susannah from the UK were in Norway and picked up Maria in the street. She told that she had been severely sick, and even bedbound, and now needed help to dress for her new and healthy life. Seeing Maria gave me a lot of hope.

 

Wow, what were the odds of that!

 

Extremely long.