PINEAPPLE FUND INCREASES DONATION TO OMF to $5 MILLION

https://www.omf.ngo/2018/02/02/pineapple-fund/

PINEAPPLE FUND INCREASES DONATION TO $5 MILLION

• Posted on:February 2, 2018
  

Two weeks ago, on January 14, 2018, OMF received a $1 million donation from the Pineapple Fund to “accelerate much-needed research for ME/CFS and related chronic complex diseases.”

The Pineapple Fund was so moved by the outpouring of appreciation from our US and international OMF family, that today they have increased their commitment with an additional $4 million donation through bitcoin to bring their total support to $5 million! Linda Tannenbaum, OMF CEO/President, believes the additional donation was made in response to the overwhelming gratitude expressed by the patient community on Reddit and other social media.

OMF has received thousands of likes and comments on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. Patients and family members have been moved to tears by this exciting news. Here are two examples of the heartfelt gratitude:

“Thank you for giving hope to people suffering with this disease. My son has had it for about 10 years, most of that time it was not recognized as an illness, let alone a serious one. A life full of exhaustion and pain may come to an end soon for him and other sufferers.” Ann W.

“Thank you, Pineapple Fund, for seeing beyond the cloak of invisibility laid upon this horrid illness and recognizing the desperate need. The hope this provides is palpable.” Liane B.

This additional funding will drive research already underway in several key areas: creating a diagnostic test for ME/CFS; scaling up patient data analysis; accelerating the development of new technology to identify treatment options; and ultimately, research towards a cure.

Expressing support for the work of OMF, “Pine” from the Pineapple Fund said in a recent message: “I had known about ME/CFS for a while, and I know it is a serious condition without much in the way of treatment or research. I’ve recently received letters of support from esteemed academics in the field strongly supporting OMF, and that helped me make the decision!”

We are tremendously grateful to the Pineapple Fund for igniting OMF’s research and delivering hope!

 

The payment provider that the OMF uses, BitPay, converts bitcoin to USD on receipt.

 

This is incredible!

 

I agree that this additional donation happened because patients were so grateful on various social media. And also because we really need some extra help.

 

It’s so cool to see the OMF logo on the Pineapple Fund site, under the list of charities supported!



https://pineapplefund.org/

 

This also demonstrates the power of patient (and caregiver) activism.

 

Holy ****! This is AMAZING.

So grateful to the Pineapple Fund guy.

 

That is a seriously decent amount of money for research right there, very pleased indeed.

 

So grateful. Thank you Pineapple Fund.

 

That is good news. It seems the double pronged pull of patient thanks and serious academic interest has made the difference. We're not short of the former and now we're seeing the latter paying dividends (quite literally).

 

Next steps: blood test, major findings, a surge of interest in the illness?

 

Oh wow - amazing news!

 

Is there a link to somewhere where we can go and thank him? I don't mean that in an, 'If we thank him, maybe he'll give us another $10m,' sense but just because he's just given us five million bucks and we should be thanking him...

 

If you write a message on my Reddit thread and tag /u/pineapplefund he will see it:

 

Not only is the donation worth celebrating. News coverage, such as that at the link below, should also help the cause.

From Reuters, a high-profile source:

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-...-million-to-medicine-foundation-idUSKBN1FM2G4

"This significant donation will help OMF accelerate and expand current research into ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis), CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) and other chronic complex diseases and to keep fighting for a better future for patients,” said Linda Tannenbaum, founder and president of OMF.

Tannenbaum said OMF had conversations back and forth with the donor, but she did not know his or her identity.

 

Will be very interested to see what OMF studies get started this year. I look forward to participating in as many as I can.

Thank you Pineapple Fund!

 

What wonderful wonderful news

how does one go about saying thank you to them? does anyone know? I'm not on twitter or reddit.

 

https://www.facebook.com/OpenMedicineFoundation/

Open Med Foundation fb page is collecting lots of comments

 

There's also an email address on the Pineapple Fund website.