"My name is Mike C. My son Cole has been told he has MECFS/Lyme. We also live in Louisiana in the town of Carencro. Cole got sick his Junior year of high school (2015). He got the flu and never recovered. Cole was not your normal High School student. He was an honor student at Beau Chene High. He was also the school’s first 4A first team all-state football player. He got 4A first team all-state as a tenth grader and then again his junior year. He got sick right after football ended in the eleventh grade. He was ranked very high nationally. Colleges Coaches started calling after he got sick and still call. Our mail box had letters from Colleges every day. Letters coming from all over the country. Schools like LSU, Alabama, UL, and just about every SEC school among many others. Even a letter from Stanford, who wanted him to visit as a nationally ranked football kicker--unfortunately, I couldn't get Cole into Stanford’s CFS clinic. Cole was starting striker on the soccer team and at the time he got sick, he was running 80 minutes on the soccer field with no issues. He was in the best shape of his life when he got sick. It is hard for him to be out of bed for just a few minutes now. He has been sick for a little over two years. I am very lucky to have him for a son and still hope he gets a chance to live his life. Thank you. " Mike C Coles story helps explain in many ways why we urgently need funding for the proper research. Why we need more clinics with properly trained doctors so sick patients can actually get in to see them. Currently there are but a handful of MECFS clinics/specialists in the country--most do not accept regular insurance and nearly all of them have a waiting list. Even if you're fortunate enough to afford the out-of-pocket expenses, so many ME/CFS patients are too critically ill to travel. This makes it impossible to see knowledgable doctors who know how to provide proper care. Still, we are talking NO cure and ZERO FDA-approved treatments--there is only so much a doctor can do within these parameters. Patients don't want band-aid treatments-- we are desperate to get better, not just to treat symptoms. The inability to find, visit and afford proper doctors only makes an already dire situation more hopeless. This is a health crisis that needs addressing now. Thank you Mike and Cole, for sharing this story. I know it's not always easy, but I also know that by telling our respective truths, these accounts will help communicate the desperate need of this entire community. I believe eventually, it will help this situation garner the change it needs. Yall hang in there. If you'd like to share your or a loved-one's experience with MECFS, please either email me at theothergelpi@gmail.com, leave your story in "Discussion" section below this update, OR on the comments page of petition. I read them all. In the meantime, all we can do is continue to tell the truth about this disease, and I intend to use this petition as one platform where we can do that. Thanks yall. Keep on keepin on.