Well-known, famous people with ME/CFS (public thread)
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To save people clicking though and getting the cookies, there's not much that is new about Cher there, just a recycling of old news:
This is pretty much the content about Cher:
The rest is just a presentation of a bit of the NICE guideline content.
Dolphin
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
https://www.thesun.ie/sport/15091227/world-championship-snooker-woollaston-driving/
Snooker star nearly didn't make it to Crucible after almost blacking out driving - The Irish Sun
"Woollaston – whose wife is top referee Tatiana – has been battling chronic fatigue syndrome since he had a Covid vaccination jab four years ago."
Snooker star nearly didn't make it to Crucible after almost blacking out driving - The Irish Sun
"Woollaston – whose wife is top referee Tatiana – has been battling chronic fatigue syndrome since he had a Covid vaccination jab four years ago."
Africa Foot: 'Health Concern Forces ex-Bafana Bafana Star to Step Away from Game'
'Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Jethren Barr is stepping away from his football career as he’s taking a break due to illness.
After a two-season spell with Irish club Drogheda United FC, Jethren Barr became a free agent, attracting interest from various clubs, including some in the PSL, ahead of the new season.
However, the 29-year-old goalkeeper has since revealed he's turned down these offers.
He is prioritizing his health and ongoing treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). [...]'
'Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Jethren Barr is stepping away from his football career as he’s taking a break due to illness.
After a two-season spell with Irish club Drogheda United FC, Jethren Barr became a free agent, attracting interest from various clubs, including some in the PSL, ahead of the new season.
However, the 29-year-old goalkeeper has since revealed he's turned down these offers.
He is prioritizing his health and ongoing treatment for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). [...]'
Mij
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
MeSci
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
(Given he has not been ill long, he may well recover. Hopefully he will.
Almost certainly, whatever he is doing with his team of specialists will have no positive impact on his chance of doing so. But, because most people recover in the first year, the odds are that these specialists will be able to claim a win.)
Dolphin
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Casey Stoner Triumphs Over Chronic Fatigue: Shocking Health Update from MotoGP Legend!
BY RUI BELMONTEAugust 21, 2025
Casey Stoner Triumphs Over Chronic Fatigue: Shocking Health Update from MotoGP Legend!
Casey Stoners inspiring recovery from chronic fatigue reveals his journey back to health. Discover his remarkable comeback and reignited passion for racing!
motorcyclesports.net
This is the relevant bit, for what it is worth:
However, hope has arrived in the form of a newfound vigor. During a recent appearance at the Austrian Grand Prix, where he participated in a legends parade riding a Repsol-colored Honda RC213V-S, Stoner delivered an inspiring health update. “Very well in these last few months in particular,” he disclosed to Sky Italy. “Each year it has been getting better and better and stronger again. I started to do some cycling a couple of months ago, so the health is definitely improving.”
"His return to Europe has ignited his passion, allowing him to appreciate the beauty of the continent once more." That is an odd sentence. Do all of us with ME/CFS from Australasia just need a trip to Europe to reignite our passions and appreciate beauty? Was not appreciating the beauty of a continent a symptom of his illness?
Please may Casey Stoner not join the way too long list of celebrity ME/CFS sufferers who, rather than helpfully creating awareness of the disease, end up actually harming people.
I agree.
It's also an interesting example to dissect as almost a commentary on the cultural situation/factors that force people into that position too. Sportspeople and particularly certain sports are in a very particular situation vs other celebrities.
I'm assuming from this part:
that is hasn't been written by him. And that the quote bit might be two parts bunged together by the author that didn't quite fit that way, or taken at a point where someone is having to say something in a rush.
It doesn't make the language inadvertent classic disability bigotry tropes one after another, which I guess might be partly 'excused' by I assume the author being someone who works in eg motorsports so genuine illness, rather than the more common fodder of having various injuries from accidents on the track or a bout of something acute that someone has to lose points for missing 1/2/3 events in the season, might be something they are lacking experience in writing for. And therefore I hope some feedback to them could be useful.
But they might also be having to be wary of the impact of writing about doubts and not doing the hero thing on people's prospects
I understand that there is a certain psychology of being a sportsperson, when I was an athlete I realised people used to try and psych each other out with tales of pb or whatnot on the start line. And just like all too many other jobs/business areas if you suggest there might be a problem that isn't overcomeable then you just make it guaranteed that it won't be possible, so it isn't necessary that the person thinks being positive changes recovery just that if they do recover but they've been circumspect about it then the support etc that goes with it has already gone anyway.
And motorsport is a business and involves sponsorship and merchandising and so on. I assume like F1 people also get their position on a team and could lose that.
In a way I am divided because having something for several years, genuinely badly, or where we have had to or chosen to trudge through despite being ill then it is fair that this is acknowledged - with a strong line between saying what a tough journey that is or how they aren't fully well and it is tough for them to try and stick in there at sacrifice to themselves (as many of us had to with our work) and suggesting that it is either healthy or a good idea or that others who are more ill and so either don't have that option or get more ill from it just didn't have the attitude to overcome magicking the disability away.
Both need to be given respect. And I don't quite know how that happens when you aren't in control of your own brand or there being any point in doing all said fighting or sacrificing your social life and health to do it depends on not giving away your 'weaknesses' because others will take advantage of it etc. So culture ends up forcing nearly all to be bigoted or puts words in their mouths anyway. Few are actually in a position where they have either full control or can make that risk and still keep their voice.
Which of course is quite different to the LP converts doing their soundbites or writing books of advice etc.
I will be very impressed if he manages to pull it off and potentially I guess one side-step around is that he could still talk about those who weren't as fortunate and his respect for them and how cruel the illness is - but even then an editor is just as likely to decide not to include that para. It really is some dirty old vicious circle media-wise isn't it when you get people hired from a certain culture who genuinely believe 'their audience don't like x but do like y' etc but that's what they are feeding them so of course that's their answer.
ah86445
Established Member
I am hoping this is the right place to post this. The person I want to share isn’t necessarily a public figure in a famous sense, but their career is as an influencer/ content creator on social media.
I feel weird sharing this about someone haha, but I haven’t seen this presentation of someone before and it has been eye opening into the ever increasing diversity within ME. From everything this person has described, they do have ME, and it’s not in remission as they do get PEM. However, they post a lot of athletic and high energy content so I imagine their energy envelope is large. Very interesting.
edit: forgot to add, this creator only uses the term chronic fatigue as opposed to cfs or ME. I find that is common in doctors who prefer to “treat the symptoms and not diagnosis” which can lead to confusion over the specific nature. To me, it seems like this creator is referring to ME/CFS as they developed it a few years ago after glandular fever
I feel weird sharing this about someone haha, but I haven’t seen this presentation of someone before and it has been eye opening into the ever increasing diversity within ME. From everything this person has described, they do have ME, and it’s not in remission as they do get PEM. However, they post a lot of athletic and high energy content so I imagine their energy envelope is large. Very interesting.
edit: forgot to add, this creator only uses the term chronic fatigue as opposed to cfs or ME. I find that is common in doctors who prefer to “treat the symptoms and not diagnosis” which can lead to confusion over the specific nature. To me, it seems like this creator is referring to ME/CFS as they developed it a few years ago after glandular fever
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RedFox
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Really saddened at how they covered it, by assuming that his recovery from ME/CFS was some sort of personal achievement as opposed to a stroke of luck or a treatment that worked. Stoner himself said nothing about how or why he recovered. We don't know why recovery from ME/CFS happens, but it's certainly not from effort. Sometimes a particular treatment seems to help one person, sometimes it's just luck.Casey Stoner Triumphs Over Chronic Fatigue: Shocking Health Update from MotoGP Legend!
BY RUI BELMONTE
August 21, 2025
Casey Stoner Triumphs Over Chronic Fatigue: Shocking Health Update from MotoGP Legend!
Casey Stoners inspiring recovery from chronic fatigue reveals his journey back to health. Discover his remarkable comeback and reignited passion for racing!
This is the relevant bit, for what it is worth:
However, hope has arrived in the form of a newfound vigor. During a recent appearance at the Austrian Grand Prix, where he participated in a legends parade riding a Repsol-colored Honda RC213V-S, Stoner delivered an inspiring health update. “Very well in these last few months in particular,” he disclosed to Sky Italy. “Each year it has been getting better and better and stronger again. I started to do some cycling a couple of months ago, so the health is definitely improving.”
I don't know or desire to speculate on the specifics of his case, but when we question the ableist implication that all we need to do is work hard because a former professional athlete recovered, we must highlight that most public figures have money and resources. They can more easily quit a job, hire help, or ask friends or family to help with chores so they can avoid PEM. They'll have more time and money to visit renowned doctors and try a litany of treatments.
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T&O
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Im late to the party here but Id do the same if I could RedFox (anything to enjoy life more actively,… not have to manage chronic pain); would be interested to talk with them in 10 years, somewhere out of any spotlight, to hear whether they really are miraculously healed and well, or whether they are simply managing light to moderate ME with huge assistance.
Just imagine travelling ,being carried along without much waiting around or standing required, few human interactions /no decision making required on route, with everything pre-organised , (others assisting you at each point of need) a PA as your gate keeper, could be doable !
Beautifully quiet resorts to disappear into to sleep and retreat … no cleaning or cooking, wonderful. Dreams are free
Just imagine travelling ,being carried along without much waiting around or standing required, few human interactions /no decision making required on route, with everything pre-organised , (others assisting you at each point of need) a PA as your gate keeper, could be doable !
Beautifully quiet resorts to disappear into to sleep and retreat … no cleaning or cooking, wonderful. Dreams are free
T&O
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Agreed some lucky souls do truely seem to recover well (the younger the better ?,
or the right treatment at the right time ?…before 6 or 7 years have gone by ?)
Wish we knew.
A young athlete in his late teens , in the south Island of NZ (not famous) , was successfully treated with a spell of steroids and then further medications ,after ca 6 months eased off auto immune suppressants (methotrexate ?not certain), 15 years ago. Hed been ill for 4 years.
He changed his life style ,and had a very supportive family around him, but did go from being bed ridden to living an active life again. He felt well.
My then Rheumatologist regarded him as cured.
or the right treatment at the right time ?…before 6 or 7 years have gone by ?)
Wish we knew.
A young athlete in his late teens , in the south Island of NZ (not famous) , was successfully treated with a spell of steroids and then further medications ,after ca 6 months eased off auto immune suppressants (methotrexate ?not certain), 15 years ago. Hed been ill for 4 years.
He changed his life style ,and had a very supportive family around him, but did go from being bed ridden to living an active life again. He felt well.
My then Rheumatologist regarded him as cured.
here's one of the videos specifically about the person's chronic fatigue: link
ah86445
Established Member
speaking of athletes down south, I’ll have to check to make sure this hasn’t been posted already. But I noticed that at the last Olympics, in Paris, one of the Australian women’s surfing athletes had a history of me/cfs during her career but prior to the olympics. I’ll link her story
www.olympics.com.au
There is also a second female professional surfer from Australia, who was diagnosed with cfs in the ‘90’s. But i’m sure many of you know of this case already. I feel skeptical of naming her because she is very mind body recovery inclined. Seems to be a pattern for famous/ athlete pw/me to strongly connect with the somatic theories.
Tyler Wright | Australian Olympic Committee
Tyler Wright, is an Australian Olympian who has represented Australia at the Olympic Games. Learn more about Tyler's Olympic journey and achievements here.
www.olympics.com.au
There is also a second female professional surfer from Australia, who was diagnosed with cfs in the ‘90’s. But i’m sure many of you know of this case already. I feel skeptical of naming her because she is very mind body recovery inclined. Seems to be a pattern for famous/ athlete pw/me to strongly connect with the somatic theories.
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T&O
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
Ugh
)