Friends, I can't express my gratitude (and surprise) at the immense response we've had from this petition. Today I think we will reach close to 25,000 signatures. That's so great! What's been even more impactful are the responses people are leaving on the campaign page. So many lives touched by this terrible disease, and please know I am reading them all. Healthy and sick people are speaking up for this overdue change. It's such an awesome thing for people to come together like that. A big part of me writing this campaign was for people like Whitney Dafoe, a severe ME patient who has been confined to his room for years and now eats through a feeding tube. There are others like him, and they need to be spoken for too. I am sick, but well enough to type on an iPhone, and it's pretty amazing what you can achieve through just that capability. I can't thank yall enough for taking the time to sign, share and help circulate this. I know it comes down to thirty seconds and a few clicks on the keyboard, but we're living in an age where that can achieve major change, as we're seeing now. As for developments, I've teamed up with the #MEaction group who is leading the protest in Washington this May. Using the campaign in conjunction with that fight will add that much more awareness and power to our message: which is simply to see us, to treat this disease like a real disease, and to make the adequate changes. We can do it! Can I get an Amen?! Kidding. I haven't heard from the NIH yet, but something tells me as our numbers rise, we'll have some kind of communication. I still don't know what the magic number is, it's like guessing how many licks to the center of a tootsie roll pop? Maybe it's different, but I expect this to be a fully positive thing on both ends, and I trust that the heads of these agencies will do the right thing and that we are in good hands. I'll let you know. Until then, yall keep this thing going! It couldn't have happened without you. Health and happiness, Mary and Monty