Reprinted wtih the kind permission of Simmaron Research.

By Cort Johnson

For the second time this month, the loved one of an ME/CFS patient has dedicated talent and sacrifice to raise funding for Simmaron Research and awareness of the disease more broadly.

Michael Jasper met Terrys husband, Silvestre, 13 years ago and over time the two couples became best friends, even like family to each other but for a while they were a family with a mystery: Terry would mysteriously disappear at times. When the Jaspars were told she had something called chronic fatigue syndrome the explanation helped even as it obscured.

It wasnt until Michael and his wife Marie saw a screening of The Forgotten Plague earlier this year that they really began to understand what was going on. Terry wasnt just tired she was really sick! Theyd seen her only on her best days, which unfortunately were few and far between.

The Forgotten Plague turned out to be a line of demarcation for them. Theyd pounded Terry with questions about the disease after that. They now know the history, they know the neglect, they know the seeds of change that are sprouting now and they wanted to do something for their friend.

Several months later Michael asked for a meeting and when Terry was well enough Michael and his family broke the news: he was resurrecting his music career and wanted to dedicate the song Beachwalk to Terry and the ME/CFS community. Hed composed it years before, and when he and his daughter, Marissa, got to work on the album, it was the first song theyd worked on.

Michael told me that hed played in the greatest garage bands that never made it. Along the way, hed played and toured around the world with many figures in the music industry. Now as he re-emerged into the music scene he was putting those connections to good use having them join him on the new album he and his daughter who, having just graduated from college with a degree in music were going to release in December. Merging old and new his old-school R & B and funk roots with her contemporary pop and dance sound the album will have a unique sound.

Beachwalks melody described for him a simple pleasure that few people with ME/CFS could enjoy: a relaxing walk on the beach, the sun overhead, the sand in their toes a walk that left them relaxed and rejuvenated. Such an easy thing to contemplate for most people but just a dream for Terry and so many others.

For me I heard the keyboards, horn and guitar singing a song of triumph; a song celebrating someone finally making it to their beach after years of effort. It was an uplifting feeling.

Music for Simmaron

It was out of a vision of Terry, their good friend of many years, and others with ME/CFS finally taking their well-deserved walk on the beach, that Michael is donating 50% of the proceeds from the sale of Beachwalk to the Simmaron Research Foundation to help people with ME/CFS.

Please take a walk on the beach with Michael Jaspar, his daughter Marissa and other as they play for Terry Gilmete and others with ME/CFS to support Simmaron. You can find Beachwalk:

Millions Missing Rally & a Song in Sacramento on June 2nd

The problem, of course, is that people with ME/CFS arent able to walk far, if at all. Theyre largely missing from the rounds of daily life an absence dramatically evoked by the MillionsMissing rallies featuring ME/CFS supporters and their shoes.

This Friday, June 2, patients and loved ones will gather on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento for a MillionsMissing Rally and a live debut of the Jaspars Beachwalk.

The Sacramento Rally featuring Terry Gilmete, Michael Jaspar and others has a story all its own. The woman who organized it, Marilyn Yu, also created The Forgotten Plague screening which opened Michael Jaspars eyes and got him, his wife and daughter involved. In 2016, Marilyn, whos had ME/CFS for three years, got West Sacramento, Elk Grove and Sacramento to do proclamations of their own. Shes gotten the Sacramento City buildings lit up in blue for the past 2 years. The Sacramento Convention Marque featured May 12 as ME/CFS Awareness Day. Marilyn also created a virtual run last year in which she raised some money for Simmaron.

On May 18th, a number of California patients including Terry Gilmete and Marilyn Yu met with Senator Glazers and Moorlach to sponsor SCR-40 which proclaimed May 12th ME/CFS Awareness day and the month of May Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month in California. Senator Moorlach passionately spoke of his friends daughter whos been disabled from ME/CFS for 18 years.

The striking and, in many ways, beautiful California resolution resolved that

WHEREAS, ME/CFS has been found by the National Academy of Medicine to be a serious, chronic, complex, and systemic disease that frequently and dramatically limits the activities of affected patients, leaving them with a lower quality of life than patients with multiple sclerosis, stroke, renal failure, heart failure, and other chronic diseases; and

WHEREAS, The lack of tracking for ME/CFS by the CDC and the grossly inadequate NIH funding for research based on disease burden have hindered progress in diagnosing and treating ME/CFS, such that there is no FDA-approved treatment for the disease; and

WHEREAS, ME/CFS is a tragic and disabling disease that destroys the lives of many patients and imposes a severe toll on their families, friends, and caretakers;

WHEREAS, The economic impact of ME/CFS in the United States is estimated to be $20 billion to $50 billion per year (CDC February 2016) and likely costs the California economy billions of dollars in health care costs, patient care, lost productivity, and lost tax revenues;

The Legislature hereby proclaims May 12, 2017, as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day, and declares the month of May 2017, and each May thereafter, as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Month, to help spread awareness of the disease and the need for increased research funding, and to support individuals living with ME/CFS;

On June 2nd, Michael Jaspar, Marilyn Yu, Terri Gilmete and others will all be at ME/CFS Millions Missing Rally in Sacramento at the CA State Capitol Steps-south side on June 2 from 11:30-1:30. A shoe exhibit will be on display from 10:30-4. The music will be an inspiration all our own in the ME/CFS community.

When: June 2, 2017, 10:30-4:00 shoe display, 11:30-1:30 rally and musical debut

Excerpt from:

Making Music and a Difference for ME/CFS - ProHealth