May 12, 2023 Is International ME/CFS Awareness Day

by Jody Smith This year marks 31 years since Thomas Hennessy, Jr. decided that May 12th would be our ME/CFS International Awareness Day. May 12th had been the birthday of army nurse and Red Cross founder Florence Nightingale. After the significant contributions she’d made to the world, she lived with a chronic illness for the last half century of her

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Photo of Patrick Johnson

Honouring the Memory of our Friend PatJ

by Jody Smith We want to celebrate the memory of PatJ here on Phoenix Rising. Many of our members knew him as a long-time friend on these forums. We received some sorrowful news about Pat on December 29, 2020 from his sister Shannon. “I wanted to inform you that my brother Patrick Johnson of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada ended his suffering

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Image of rose with the word "Sorry".

The Apologizers of the ME/CFS World

by Jody Smith I’m Canadian, so I hear a lot of good-natured jokes about how Canadians apologize all the time. It’s funny in part because … in part, it’s true. But you know who else apologizes a lot? Chronically ill people. And that ain’t so funny. Now some of us were probably like that before becoming ill. But what’s particularly

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Image of candles lit up on a snowy ledge.

Looking Ahead to a New Year With ME/CFS

by Jody Smith​ Hey, it’s the beginning of a new year. And 2020 has a nice fresh ring to it. This time of year are you thinking about the future? I’m not talking about New Year Resolutions. I ditched those years ago. Me, I have a hard time looking to the future. When it comes to scheduling and planning and

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Sunset behind tree.

On the Absence of Light and ME/CFS

by Jody Smith​ On my side of the world, change is brewing. Here in North America, the cold and dark brooding of winter looms and glowers. In some areas it has already hit, hard. Temperatures dropping, days shortening … for someone like me who lives with ME/CFS and seasonal affective disorder, this is a daunting time. I am staring down

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