‘Help us get our lives back’ - Doncaster-born Olympian Beth Dobbin writes to Andy Burnham over ME funding

Doncaster-born former British sprinter Beth Dobbin has called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to fund more research into the “life-decimating” condition that has left her bedbound for 22 hours a day.

Earlier this month, Beth, who hails from Sprotborough, was diagnosed with the ME - a chronic, fluctuating disease, causing symptoms such as sleep problems, problems with thinking and memory, pain and severe, persistent fatigue that does not improve with rest, and more.

Recent research from the University of Edinburgh estimates that around 400,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with ME, although the true figure could exceed one million.

Of those currently diagnosed, it’s estimated 25% of those people fall into the severe category. Beth is one of those.

Five years ago, she ran for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics to become the first and only female track & field Olympian from Doncaster. She also holds the Scottish record for the women’s 200m and competed in the Commonwealth Games.

Now, at 32, she spends more than 22 hours a day in bed.

In a letter to Burnham, she wrote: "My name is Beth Dobbin and I’m an Olympian who represented Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics. I’ve gone from training 5 hours a day to being bed bound 22 hours a day, due to developing severe ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) after subsequent Covid and Glandular Fever infections.

“You may have seen my recent interview with BBC Sport. It’s had over 1.1 million views on both Instagram and X, triple the amount of anything else posted around the same time. I believe this is a reflection of how many people are suffering with the same illness. There are over 400,000 people with an ME diagnosis in the UK. Charities estimate the actual figure is around 1.35 million due to it taking on average 6 years to receive a diagnosis. ME is almost always a post-viral illness, so the amount of people impacted since Covid has, and will continue to increase.

“ME has been neglected and psychologised for years due to 80% of sufferers being women. It has received so little government funding for research over the years compared to other illnesses. As a consequence, there are no approved treatments. There are also currently no provisions within the NHS for severe ME patients (25% of those with ME). What other illness this prevalent would leave patients with nowhere to go within the NHS, or no specialists other than to seek private care?

“Lastly, your government has said it wants to bring down the welfare bill. How can it do this without addressing and funding possibly the most obvious reason why people claim. The funding towards research would be significantly lower than the millions spent on PIP, Universal Credit and Carers Allowance over the years for those who can’t work due to this illness. As you can see from the graphs below, the people claiming benefits due to ill health has been steadily rising since 2020. ME is often a post viral illness and now with Covid in circulation, this will continue to increase.

“ME is so debilitating, severe patients are violently unwell, bedbound and can’t even look after themselves, let alone work. To get the welfare bill down, I believe you need to fund research into this spiralling illness and help us all get our lives back.

“From a fellow Northerner,

“Beth Dobbin OLY.”