Chris Ponting (DecodeME’s lead investigator) is an old friend of mine and he has been fabulously supportive during my long illness. Many researchers have a personal reason for starting to study ME/CFS, and I am Chris’s.

I’m involved in DecodeME and I’ve seen up close the rigour of the science, the team’s respect for patients and the huge amount of work to make the study happen.

The project is very impressive. So is the ability of this type of research to identify biological causes. And the importance of winning a big grant from the UK health-research funders is enormous.

While I am passionate about the study, I hope I have also been fair in explaining the science and its significance.