More than 400 sportspeople including David Moyes and Tom Daley back Beth Dobbin’s plea for ME funding
Beth Dobbin is campaigning to raise awareness and funding for ME
More than 400 sportspeople have signed a letter calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to meet former sprinter Beth Dobbin and commit to increased funding towards ME research.
Dobbin, who hails from Sprotbrough, represented Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, becoming the first and only female track & field Olympian from Doncaster. She also holds the Scottish record for the women’s 200m.
However, her career in the sport was cut short four years ago when she was diagnosed with the ME in 2022 after back-to-back Covid and glandular fever infections.
ME is a chronic, fluctuating disease, causing symptoms such as sleep issues, problems with thinking and memory, pain and severe, persistent fatigue that does not improve with rest, and more.
Her sister Faye, told the Free Press: “Before her illness, Beth was really active. She trained five times a week and now she’s bedbound for 22.5 hours a day.”
Current research shows that ME impacts more than 400,000 people in the UK alone, though the true figure could exceed one million, with severity ranging from people able to work or study to those requiring round-the-clock care.
It's a condition with no known cure. It received £6.5 million in research between 2019 and 2024. However, this is significantly less than other conditions such as Parkinson’s which receives upwards of £79m and Dementia which has had £496.4m in the same period.
On 21 October, Dobbin wrote to the prime minister to fund more research into the "life-decimating" condition - and she has now been backed by more than 400 athletes across a range of different sports.
Among the sporting figures to have signed the letter are Everton manager David Moyes, United States women’s boss Emma Hayes, and former Belles and England centre-back Millie Bright.
Her father Jim Dobbin, John Buckley, Martin Woods along with brothers Glynn and Ian Snodin are among the former Doncaster Rovers players to sign the petition.
While Olympic gold medalist Tom Daley and silver medalist Dina Asher-Smith have also shown their support to the cause.
Faye, who raised over £15,000 for ME by running the York Marathon in October, told the Free Press: “There’s a disparity in research between ME and other illnesses. We as a family want to call on the government to address why it is so low. There’s not enough known or any cure.”