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5
The longest-ever
expedition to be
mounted to raise funds
for ME
research is now likely
to take up to two
years to complete, say
explorers Ed Stafford
and Luke Collyer.
The pair, who have teamed up to walk from the source of the River Amazon in southern Peru to
the river mouth in Brazil, aim to cover the 4,000 miles with no interruption and without any
support whatsoever.
Ed, a former British Army captain, and professional outdoor instructor Luke, will carry only what
fits into their rucksacks and live off the jungle.
“If they complete their journey through one of the most amazing and threatened eco-systems
left on Earth they will be the first men ever to walk the Amazon”, says a message on their
website.
Originally, they thought they could complete their epic adventure in one year, after they set off
in April 2008. But careful re-appraisal of the hazards ahead has led them to push back the
finishing date.
Earlier this summer they set themselves a huge test of their fitness and capability. They
undertook a four-day food deprivation and endurance trek in the Lake District – reckoning that, if
they couldn’t survive that, then the Amazon adventure might as well be scrapped.
You can watch how humour and aggression overcame plummeting blood sugar levels in an 11-minute
film of the test on their website.
The Amazon adventure will raise funds for ME tissue bank plans being supported by The MEA’s
Ramsay Research Fund, and also for five other charities. They are Rainforest Concern, The ABC
Trust, Prospect Peru, Cancer Research UK and National Outward Bound Trust UK.
Pictured are Luke (left) and Ed, with Janie Stafford, Ed’s sister who has had ME for 14 years, at
Cornwall’s Eden Centre during a promotional photoshoot earlier this year.
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Activive. Dr Charles Shepherd. Hon Medical Adviser, ME Association
A few months ago The ME Association started receiving queries about the medicinal claims being
made for a product called Activive that was being sold over the internet.
As there is no published evidence from independent clinical trials to show that this product is of
any benefit in ME/CFS I expressed my concerns to the government's Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in relation to the 1968 Medicines Act.
A reply has been received today from the MHRA which states that '..we do not undertake to
inform complainants of the action we take, nor of the outcome, however in this case this particular
website (NutraCura Health) no longer exists.
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