This is a story about a living nightmare. My son Michael has a rare and debilitating disease called MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS which I will refer to as M.E.
Michael was a healthy successful businessman with ambition and all the joy one would want to have when at age 31 in October of 2006 he began to feel weak and unable to work or focus. Really Michael has not felt well for almost 14 years but nobody knew why. Now nearly every function of his body is affected  including cardiac function.Within a couple of months of going to doctors and being told he now has over fifty symptoms plus seizures and cardiac problems. he was flat on his back barely able to move.

He spent all his time and money trying to get help, but as we would find out their basically is no help. In August of 2007 I brought Michael back home to Columbus, Ohio from Newport Beach California to see If could do anything for him. It is now May 2008 Michael is barely able to speak or move. He has a full time caretaker who cooks and cleans and gives him his medicine. He is never out of bed. There are many degrees and stages to M.E. in a case as sever as Michaels a patient may be able to complete simple tasks such as talking, listening to speech for 2-10 minute periods throughout the day.

Concentration, memory and other cognitive abilities are severely affected. He has the inability to maintain full consciousness throughout the day. No TV is possible He lives in a totally dark room with no light or noise as he is extremely sensitive to both. His weight is down from a healthy 220 Lbs. to 140 Lbs. All I can do now is try to keep him alive until a cure is found. Easier said then done. I am out of funds to care for him. I am retired and have used all my savings plus credit cards to pay for his needs. His expenses are enormous and I have no more funds.

I AM MAKING THIS PLEA AS A FATHER TO PLEASE HELP MY SON SURVIVE.