Hello!
It occurred to me this week that Foggy’s ‘newer’ Followers may not know what Foggy’s global adventuring is for or how Foggy-sitting works. This blog is a refresher for ‘old’ Followers and a guide for those who discovered Foggy’s awesome-ness after 2020!
As a social enterprise, ME Foggy Dog campaigns for increased Government research funding for M.E alongside fundraising for Cure ME who DO biomedical research into the disease. Our community SHOULD be making headway in terms of getting equitable research funding (comparable diseases get 40x+ more research funding from Governments) but it is simply not happening, despite there being an APPG on M.E, Forward M.E in the UK, and national charities having ‘ins’ with Governments.
The need for fundraising continues, but in 2024 the need for this research has more than tripled due to the HUGE increase in cases of M.E in the UK and internationally.
I loathe hanging on the coattails of Long COVID research with every fibre of my being. We have a right to our our research funding. Given Governments worldwide are refusing to acknowledge that an outcome of COVID19 is M.E (M.E./C.F.S), it is heart-wrenching to see that Long COVID research is making discoveries in OUR disease, often without M.E being acknowledged or mentioned in the research paper.
This is where Foggy’s fundraising comes in.
When Foggy was ‘born’ in July 2014, I chose to fundraise for the ME Association and specified that all money Foggy raised was to go to fund M.E research rather than advocacy work. This remained the case until 2018. I realised that the ME Association was directing the fundraising cash to Cure ME as part of their Ramsay Research Fund. When ME Foggy Dog evolved into a social enterprise in 2018, I decided to fundraise directly for the people who do the research. Foggy and I started fundraising for Cure ME (they have charitable status as part of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine). You may also know them as the ME/CFS biobank – same organisation. The benefit of fundraising directly for Cure ME is that the money goes to them in real time courtesy of JustGiving, rather than the funds sitting in a bank account and being allocated a few times a year.
Foggy’s Global Adventuring
When I created Foggy in 2014, I decided he should be a ‘global adventurer’ in part because the people he cares about and works for, people with M.E, often find travel very difficult, if not impossible. He travels because you can’t. He goes to the places you lay in your bed dreaming about. It has always been my intention that Foggy brings the world to you rather than highlight what you are missing (I certainly hope it is taken that way). He has travelled over 500,000 miles since 2014 and my external hard drive, Google Drive, and laptop storage C drive are FULL with tens of thousands of photos from all corners of the globe. You have access to these photographs on Facebook, every single adventure Foggy has ever had an be found easily in his albums. Here is a small selection of the destinations he has visited since 2014: Sicily, Jordan, Japan, Hawaii, New Zealand, Thailand, Australia, Cuba. He gets around!
How Does ‘Foggy-Sitting Work?
Foggy is set a target at the start of each campaign. In 2023-24, he was set the target (by me) of travelling 250,000 in one year and raising £1,000,000 for M.E research (I chose £1,000,000 because that’s the bare minimum we need – I didn’t realistically think we would raise that!). He got close to travelling 250,000 in 2019/20 but the campaign was cut short by 4 months due to COVID19, I am hoping he will achieve it without being hindered by global events this time!
Foggy’s campaigns are 100% reliant on people coming forward and offering to be ‘Foggy-sitters’. This could be people living in the UK who are going overseas on holiday or on a business trip OR people who live overseas offering to show them around their home town/take him on a day trip. I should say, I can only post Foggy to countries that have a ‘good’ postal system, if Foggy was stuck in the post for 3 months the campaign wouldn’t get anywhere! In Foggy’s first ever World Tour in 2014/15, Foggy also travelled to interesting events/places in the UK – he went to CBeebies Prom at the Albert Hall, he went sky diving (!!), and visited Stonehenge. These trips are great when Foggy’s itinerary has ‘gaps’ to fill, I would rather he got out and about doing something than sitting in Foggy HQ distracting me with his snoring! (It also helps to keep mileage clocking up and keeps social media interesting and engaging).
As Foggy’s P.A, it’s my job to plan his itinerary, make sure he gets from A to Z safely (risk assessments include postal problems!) and prioritise adventures that give him the best chance of reaching the 250,000 mile target. As a Foggy-sitter, it’s YOUR job to take at least one photograph to prove where he is around the world, keep him safe (hand luggage only), help me to drive engagement (and donations) by taking photos of Foggy having adventures, and get him back to me as soon as appropriate so he can go on to the next trip smoothly.
Mythbusting – You don’t have to donate to be able to Foggy-sit. I am grateful to all Foggy-sitters for helping the campaign already, you don’t need to pay for the privilege of meeting Foggy!
Mythbusting – If you live overseas, I do not expect you to make special plans to take Foggy to events (I am well aware that ‘special plans’ cost money (entry fee for the humans who accompany him)). The fact that you live overseas = mileage. You may think you don’t live anywhere ‘special’ but your ‘normal’ could be fascinating to someone from a different culture. Just show us the bit of the world YOU live in. That said, I won’t say no if you do want to treat Foggy to a special outing!
Foggy’s Travel Bag always contains information sheets on what M.E is so if you offer to Foggy-sit but don’t know much about M.E…don’t panic! There are sheets for you to hand out. You could also read them yourself and learn a bit about this complex disease (p.s. thank you for helping!). I started doing this in 2014, mainly in case Foggy was stopped at customs……customs staff needed to know what Foggy was for to prevent fur ripping!!! (EEK)
Foggy’s Global Challenge 2023/24
Foggy has 7 months left! Can he reach 250,000? I have no idea but we are going to give it our best shot!
So far….. 
Foggy is currently in Northern Ireland with Foggy-sitter Claire – Royal Hillsborough has been Foggy’d!
Foggy is spending the day ‘in work’ with Claire and will be heading home to Foggy HQ in first class surrounded by bubbles (post – jiffy bag) from tomorrow. Foggy’s next booked in trip is to Marrakesh at the end of January!!
Please get in touch if you would like to help Foggy clock up mileage.
250,000 miles?…….LET’S DO THIS!!
Don’t forget to donate, we need M.E biomedical research to be funded and we need it NOW.
How is your money spent? From the Cure ME website –
All donations directly support our group’s work, helping enhance and expand our research and ensuring project sustainability. If you are a UK Taxpayer, your kind donation is Gift Aid eligible.
Donations of any amount are welcome. Your gift could cover freezer storage of one set of blood samples for five years (£5), tubes for one blood draw (£10), a set of laboratory blood tests (£50), or medical equipment for clinical measurements (£2,500).
We have raised £332 so far, much much more is needed.
If you can’t afford to donate, please encourage friends and family to donate instead or help the campaign by spreading the word about this fundraiser. Thank you x
Love
Sally
and Foggy (OBVIOUSLY) xxxx