Mike's EU Marathons

Ash said:
@Mike Harley, 10th year wow what an amazing achievement and dedication to standing with us and running for us :hug:

It’s true to say that you were the first person I ever came across who chose to publicly support a friend with ME instead or either blaming them for getting sick or feeling sorry for them but also feeling helpless to help.

There are many things I would like to do with my life if the burden of this illness was reduced or removed. But the most important thing for me would be to make a difference to others who have been excluded from society. I would use you as my role model!
For now, for the future as far as I can see it will still be me needing the steadfastness of your presence out in the world.

Sending much love to you and your family who’ve supported you to support us.

Maybe we can celebrate the decade with a push to get you over the line funding wise. But if not that, a decade of your life keeping up momentum for us is absolutely priceless.

:emoji_four_leaf_clover:
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this, really appreciate the kind words. I'm happy to be involved and helping in whatever small way I can.

Yes hopefully get that last £800 in to reach £50K. Will definitely try and find a way to celebrate that somehow!
 
Another interview in from Serbia. So similar to everywhere else in Europe. In many ways worse as ME is not even recognised as an illness there. Good to hear that there is a clued-up doctor over there and I know that their ME Association is pro-active within the European ME Alliance.

I'll be meeting with them on Sunday after the Belgrade Marathon race, looking forward to it!

SERBIA - Mike's EU Marathons (mikeseumarathons.eu)
 
Back from Belgrade, Serbia. An incredible weekend!

The race was hard and the heat beat me up but it was amazing to have 14 people show up to cheer me on!

I had a couple of TV appearances and also hit my £50K target!! 9 years in the making, 1269 donors across Europe, US, Canada and beyond.

Happy TV - Sindrom hronicnog umora i krize svesti - "Bolest" modernog doba ili mnogo ozbiljnija klinicka slika? (youtube.com)
N1 - Sindrom hroničnog umora: Englez trči Beogradski maraton i podiže svest o ovoj bolesti (n1info.rs)

Next up is Tirana, Albania in October.
 

Attachments

  • 440103125_848549557300336_3025309974989217507_n.jpg
    440103125_848549557300336_3025309974989217507_n.jpg
    675 KB · Views: 1
hey all.

Quick update from me. I'm having a bit of a break to repair my knee before starting to train for my next race and Euro country 32 marathon in Tirana, Albania.

My race report for the last race and trip pics is here: http://www.mikeseumarathons.eu/belgrade-serbia.html

I know it's going to be tricky to find people with ME in Albania but I'm going to give it a good try. As ever, any help you can give me on that is massively appreciated.

Looking to book trips for next year. I'll definitely be going to Bosnia in May, then it's likely to be Montenegro or Macedonia in October.

Thanks for the continued support.
 
Hey all

So just over 2 months until Tirana Marathon in Albania and the website is still broken and not taking registrations.

I'm going to switch to do Podgorica Marathon in Montenegro on Nov 10th instead. I can transfer my flight without losing too much money and it gives me an extra 3 weeks to train which is good.

I'm about to make contact with someone who lives there with ME. I'll aim to interview and hopefully meet them if they're local to Podgorica but there's understandably no ME association we know of out there at the moment.

If anyone has any contact with people with ME in Montenegro do let me know!

I've upped the target to £54321, not sure why, just couldn't think of a better one haha

Mike Harley is fundraising for IiME (justgiving.com)
 
Thanks to Mike and Vasilije for the information. It's sad to hear that things are so difficult.

  • How do doctors and health authorities perceive ME/CFS in Montenegro?
Unfortunately, ME is not recognized as a disease in Montenegro. If I would explain the symptoms and talk about how I got the diagnosis in another country, the doctors most often would not be sure what kind of illness it was, and would often think that it was a potentially psychological problem.

There are no charities or ME association of sufferers. I only know one patient with fibromyalgia, but no one with ME. When statistics are taken into account, it can be concluded that there are thousands of people suffering from ME in Montenegro, but these people are not properly diagnosed.

  • Do patients receive adequate support? Can they receive disability benefits when they are unable to work?
Considering that the disease is not recognized in our medical system, therefore patients do not receive adequate treatment and support, and there is also no possibility for getting disability or any benefits for those who are unable to work.
Click to expand...
 
Hi all

Just a quick one to let you know that I got round Podgorica Marathon fine and completed my 32nd country for Invest In ME Research.

Roughly £600 raised from this race and I'm up to £50,817.

I met Vasilije who has ME and lives there, gave him some tips about setting up the country's first ME support community. Really hope he manages to get something going there. Such a nice guy -he bought me a Montenegro football shirt to run in!

I'm resting for a week or two now and then working out where next to go. I think I need to do a shorter trip next time (maybe Belfast or Edinburgh) as it was a long time to leave Cat with the kids.

Thanks for all your support! Race report coming soon.

www.justgiving.com/mikeseumarathons
 

Attachments

  • 462537948_915487447202030_4659246394780017430_n.jpg
    462537948_915487447202030_4659246394780017430_n.jpg
    80.6 KB · Views: 5
  • 462540929_556572990284615_7879792533627858186_n.jpg
    462540929_556572990284615_7879792533627858186_n.jpg
    65.4 KB · Views: 5
  • 462543894_424292990552155_4695573944968855362_n.jpg
    462543894_424292990552155_4695573944968855362_n.jpg
    45.8 KB · Views: 5
  • 462549072_1175522754240118_5290294374323917399_n.jpg
    462549072_1175522754240118_5290294374323917399_n.jpg
    35.8 KB · Views: 5
  • 462550765_1613380342937761_1283271220816444506_n.jpg
    462550765_1613380342937761_1283271220816444506_n.jpg
    55.9 KB · Views: 5
  • 462583453_1807454313124361_390103746698361664_n.jpg
    462583453_1807454313124361_390103746698361664_n.jpg
    64.9 KB · Views: 5
Hello everyone.

My next race in Northern Ireland is 3 weeks away and I've just published 2 interviews with people there. It includes the story of Aileen who is bedbound and has severe ME. It took Aileen many weeks to answer and I know she'd really appreciate it if you could give it a read or share on whatever social media platforms you use.

Northern Ireland - Mike's European Marathons

I've posted it on Facebook and BlueSky (I've left X/Twitter).

https://www.facebook.com/mikeseumarathons/
https://bsky.app/profile/mikeseumarathons.bsky.social/post/3lmu2xjecok2n

Thanks

Mike
 
hi all

Belfast Marathon went well, got round despite my bad knee. Here's the race report: Belfast, N.Ireland - Mike's European Marathons

Really great to meet Joan and Linda from the Hope 4 ME & Fibro N.Ireland charity. They bought me dinner and kindly donated £100.

Raised £1300 from this race which is well above the usual £800 average so very happy.

I'm back training soon ready for European country 34 which is North Macedonia on Oct 5th.

If anyone knows of any people with ME out there, do let me know!

Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top