Hello!
My P.A has been working so hard on the serious side of her M.E work that she has not been doing much ‘fun stuff’ since the start of the
pandemic. That is about to change! I told her to tweak my bucket list a little bit and the new 2021 version is here! As you can see, most of the previous ‘Bucket List’ stays the same but she has taken off a few things that can’t happen now because of shows ending or brick walls being hit over recent years- Eastenders production team, I am talking about you (thank you for the signed cards but that’s not what my P.A asked you for).
Over the years, a few Foggy Followers have offered to take me on hot air balloon rides but pesky weather changes meant I still haven’t ticked that off! I’ve also had a few people offer to write me a song….AWESOME!! But for one reason or another it hasn’t happened. I would LOVE my own song!
Think Big
The previous ‘Bucket List’ included me (not my P.A) being a ‘guest’ on The Ellen Show. My P.A was told quite a few times by M.E patients that it was the ‘wrong type of show’ for M.E to be highlighted on. I told my P.A to stick to her guns. I want M.E to be ‘mainstream’ like many other social issues. Why should M.E only be discussed on news programmes or serious documentaries? Why can’t it be part of a TV show that is watched in millions of peoples’ living rooms? Fairly regularly, The Ellen Show used to have segments that highlighted different causes and issues that affected American people. I think that includes the one million very poorly M.E patients who live in the US. I wanted them to SEE that Team Foggy cares and are doing their best to bring about change for all M.E patients wherever they live around the world. The Ellen Show is also watched in various countries around the world so to ‘be on’ the show would have been a HUGE step for a tiny soft toy! Think of how many times other diseases have been included in ‘entertainment’ programmes and M.E patients have wondered why that doesn’t happen with M.E. Has anyone ever asked if we can be part of these ‘light-hearted shows’? I’m asking. My P.A is asking. Regularly. Or at least we were asking until the news broke that The Ellen Show is ending soon. *Sob hic* I never got to meet Ellen!
To become mainstream, Team Foggy knows we have to ‘think big’, I tell my P.A to think about what she wants to do rather than what she thinks is achievable. I am a very clever soft toy and I think if you don’t ask….you don’t get. This is why we have added ‘Be an ‘extra’ on Casualty in a M.E storyline’ and ‘Foggy (and his P.A) on stage at Wembley – ‘Hello Wembley” to my ‘bucket list’. In recent years, in two episodes of Casualty and Holby City, M.E has been referred to in relation to Munchausen’s by Proxy (*Foggy* Grrrrr). I want them to cover M.E from the patient perspective and to let viewers know what M.E actually is. My P.A has a few ideas as to how I can be ‘an extra’ in an episode and I’ve told her to contact the Casualty production team with her ideas (*Sally* – I’m on it).
The BIGGEST of my ‘think big’ ideas is for me and my P.A to be on stage at Wembley Stadium! It’s something we have talked about for years in between snoozing. Before the pandemic hit and tentative plans were scrapped, my P.A was talking to a few musician and ‘production team’ friends to see how we could bring about a fundraising concert. If we are going to do it…..THINK BIG!
Without any thought of how, what, or when…… I want ‘Foggy Aid’!
My tiny, soft toy, brain is LOVING the thought of a sell-out crowd at Wembley (think Live Aid or the AIDS concert of the 1980s), hundreds of thousands of people attending a fab concert (with A-list bands and singers) for a great cause. M.E affects up to 30 million people worldwide (that number is growing) and each and every person is desperate for biomedical research funding. As a patient herself, my P.A is fed up of ‘being patient’. I want my P.A and M.E- affected Followers to get treatments that will improve their quality of life NOW not in decades to come. If that means being on stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people…..so be it! #egomaniac.
Get in touch with me via my P.A if this is something you can help with – my P.A knows diddly squat about this kind of thing so many brains working on this would be a good idea!
The M.E patient community knew M.E was a ‘crisis’ prior to COVID19, it’s time to make the rest of the world understand that.
Ta ta for now!
Love Foggy (and Sally OBVIOUSLY!)
xxxx
ps. Have you taken a look in my shop recently? Buy yourself a little bit of AWESOME Foggy merchandise!