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Friday 14 March 2014

The Princess and M.E and The Big Sleep For M.E

Sleeping Beauty photo source: Pinterest

I bet you thought that your only chance of becoming a Princess was to bump into Prince Harry in a London nightclub (chance would be a fine thing) or to wait 17 years until Prince George comes of age. Well think again! As part of M.E awareness day on May 12th and the following week, there are so many events happening to help raise awareness and fundraise for M.E charities. One of which is The Big Sleep For M.E (the link will take you to their website
.)

The Big Sleep is a fundraising event that is inclusive for severe sufferers, that are housebound or bedbound. Because all you need to do is go about your usual day and have a big sleep if you like all in the name of raising awareness. Show people what living with M.E is really like and help raise the illness's profile as well as raise funds for much needed research and a centre of excellence. See my previous post for more information on why this is so important to us sufferers and what The Big Sleep will help fund.

On May 12th and the following week there will be all kinds of sleep related events, some people will go to work in their pyjamas, take part in sleep walks, sleep walkies where you can get your dos involved. The Big Sleep organisers will be doing a prize giveaway, as well as an online disco. I wonder if they will have a chill out music session, like in Ibiza? Some lovely relaxing tunes to get us all calm, ready for sleep.

So where does the becoming a Princess come into it? Well myself and other M.E sufferers on Twitter are going to be becoming Princesses for the day, to help raise awareness and hopefully rise some funds. Why Princesses? Well it came about through a bunch of Twitter M.E spoonies saying that we were the real Sleeping Beauties (we're not vain honest, and most of the time we can look how we feel) and also that instead of having a pea in our bed causing discomfort we have M.E. Although those with fibromyalgia too will know that a pea in your bed (yes, go on laugh) could actually cause you pain. And well because those battling chronic illness day in, day out deserve to be a Princess every now and then. Heck, we're demanding enough. Can you get this for me? Can you help me out of bed? May I have a straw for my drink? So the idea of dressing up as Princesses was born and it has sky rocketed since.

Please note that you don't have to have M.E to join in, everyone is welcome. M.E isn't prejudiced and neither are we. So anyone wishing to join us and become a Princess for the day (go on convince your bosses) and for all the Princesses already aboard the carriage here is what you need to do:

1) Contact me on here or on Twitter @sianwootton

2) The group The Princess and M.E is already registered with The big Sleep but if you want to register separately and be in with a chance of winning a Big Sleep Mascot Bear then you can do so here. Fill in the form and state that you are part of Team Princess. #teamprincess #theprincessandME

3) If you want to have some printable materials advertising The Big Sleep then download them here. This includes logo's suitable for printing or use on the internet, school leaflets, sponsorship forms, parental consent form for photos of children and fundraising and information pack.

4) We have set up a just giving team for fundraising here. As you can see their are 5 princesses already but some pages have more than one name, for those that don't want to set up an individual account, or find it too much. So you can either ask to be put onto one of the already set up pages or if you already have a just giving account you can click on 'join in the team' on our Princess page, just a note to say this only shows up when using the full version of the site. Also note that your chosen charity is set to Invest in ME. If you want to create a new page then use this link and again choose Invest in ME as your charity.

5) On May 12th (although some people are doing it on the 11th due to work) dress up as a Princess, or a Khaleesi if you wish. Those that are feeling too bad on the day please don't push yourselves too much. Put up logos if you have printed them from the toolkit and simply post a photograph of yourself to social media, stating why you are dressed as a Princess. If you're using Twitter put @thebigsleepforme in your tweet or #theprincessandME. You can also Facebook at The Big Sleep Facebook page or on this blog's Facebook page. Or instagram using hashtags #spoonie #MEcfs #myalgicencephalomylitis #theprincessandME #thebigsleepforME

6) Keep an eye out on Twitter and Facebook for different giveaways and competitions, vintage wedding and homes uk have kindly sponsored the event and there are some other sparkly businesses involved too like Tinkerella loubella, they make some great personalised wine glasses and even a sign that says 'shhh Princess Sleeping', oh how apt! There's also Bling Mama, who have some amazingly sparkly shoes, check out the picture of the cinderella shoes below!

If you would like to make a donation use this just giving link. Donate to anyone of the Princesses on there and you will be entered into a prize draw to win a cosmetics bundle from e.l.f cosmetics worth £50 or a Hug Box, a box full of chocolates and sweets. See photo below. Even a retweet or a mention is great as it helps us raise more awareness.

I am also making some jewellery with half the proceeds going to the just giving page, and again anyone purchasing one will be entered into the prize draws. I've posted a photo below with what I've mamaged so far but I will do a separate blog post soon.

Help us spread awareness of us real Sleeping Beauties and believe me all our Princesses are beautiful people, despite battling this disabling illness. The film versions of Sleeping Beauty might have waltzed off into the sunset with Prince Charming but after our Big Sleep Event our big hope is that more people know about the seriousness of M.E and we are a few steps closer to getting much needed research to help us find a cure. That will be our Happy Ever After.

I wouldn't say no to a Prince Charming either

Many thanks

Sian x

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