Young People Today! & Raising Funds for ME

Having an illness like ME, (that is disregarded by so many) I find it extra poignant when a young person stands up and volunteers to raise funds.  The two stories below capture something special about how families support one another: and that brightens my whole day!

Let me introduce you to two the amazing young ladies that I recently "met" in cyberspace:
Amber Blackmore and Keisha Mawer.  

AMBER

Amber is 19 and is going to do a Skydive on 21st June 2014 from 15,000 feet - that's the highest you can jump without needing extra oxygen!!  And Amber has never done a parachute jump before!

Amber's mother is fairly severely affected by ME, and Amber says that she is, "hoping this will help get some more donations, so that we can find a cure for M.E."

There are to be 260 jumpers with SkyDive UK on that day, and it is also going to be a World Record Attempt - The current record is 251 skydivers during daylight hours. So every jumper matters!

Amber has set up a Just Giving Page here: http://www.justgiving.com/Amber-Blackmore

And also has a Facebook Page set up to keep everybody updated. Amber's Charity Skydive for ME Research UK

I'm sure she would be glad of a few more "likes" to help raise awareness for her brave leap for ME!  Go Amber!

KEISHA

Keisha's family have also been affected by ME: both her younger sisters have ME and this has affected Keisha greatly.   So to raise funds for more research, Keisha, aged 17, is going to do two very brave things: 

On 9th May, she is going to cut off her dreadlocks, and for the duration of ME Awareness Week, she is going to dye what is left of her hair BLUE! 

Keisha explains in her blog just how much of a scary thing this is for her, because her dreads are part of her personality.  wanderlust & angel dust: personal M.E. fundraiser // scariest thing ever

Her Just Giving page is here:  http://www.justgiving.com/keishasdreads

And her mum has written a post on the Let's Do it for ME blog about her daughter's gesture: Keisha Mawer is going to chop off her dreads for Invest in ME  Worth a read.

Anyway, I'm fifty, greying a bit and I'd still find it mighty tough to make a gesture like this! Although perhaps if I'm honest it would be the BLUE bit I'd find hardest! I imagine that's not the case for Keisha.  

Whatever, I think this is an amazing act of devotion made by Keisha to her younger sisters. I wish her every success with her fundraising. Go Keisha!

Edited on 4th May to add a link to details of Keisha's Dreadlock removal session: Linky

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I know there are many more people doing amazing things now to raise funds for ME research, but the actions of these two brave young ladies came to my attention within the space of a few days and so I couldn't resist giving them both some publicity.  

I hope that you, like me, might also consider sponsoring them.....

Young people today really are amazing!  Go Amber!  Go Keisha!

And  THANK YOU BOTH! xx