Grab your underwear, snap a selfie and become a superhero for ME/CFS. A new challenge has launched to raise awareness and research funding for the disease and it’s really fun and easy to take part. It’s called Undies on the Outside.
What do I have to do?
Its simple. Grab your pants/socks/bra/whatever put them on over your clothes and snap a picture. Be creative. You could wear some boxers over your dinosaur onesie, put some Y-fronts on your pug, or tie a nightie round your neck to make a cape and fully embrace your inner superhero. If you don’t have anyone to take a pic, take a selfie. You could even put your pants on your head for your pic so it’s easy to get everything in. You don’t need to put logos or anything on like I have.
Then make a donation and upload your pic on social media and nominate some friends to take part. I have put full instructions, including the text you can copy and paste for your pics below, but you can also find out more at undiesontheoutside.org.
Where are the donations going?
The money is going to the Open Medicine Foundation’s End ME/CFS project. This is a great project bringing together top scientists in different fields to try and solve ME/CFS once and for all.
It’s executive director, Linda Tannenbaum and the scientist leading the research, Ron W. Davis are extremely dedicated to finding answers as they both have children suffering from ME/CFS. If you have not come across Ron and his son Whitney’s story before, please watch the video below. It is heartbreaking. It will shine some light on how serious this illness can be and why it is so important to find answers. I challenge you to not be moved.
Why undies on the outside?
Two reasons.
- Superheroes wear their underwear on the outside (think superman), and you have to be a superhero to live with this disease. Also, our carers and loved ones are pretty super too, as the video above shows.
- ME/CFS is an invisible illness and by wearing your undies on the outside you are bringing something that it usually hidden, out into the open.
Full instructions
Take a photo with your undies on the outside, make your donation ($10 suggested but whatever you can afford is fine), post your photo to social media (the more platforms the better) and copy and paste the following (not forgetting to nominate three more superheroes!).
I’m a Superhero and wearing my undies on the outside to end ME/CFS! I nominate X, Y and Z to do the #UndiesChallenge
HOW DO I DO THE CHALLENGE? (post your photo then copy & paste these instructions)
1. Take a photo or video wearing your undies on the outside
2. Donate $10 (USD) to the Open Medicine Foundation’s End ME/CFS Project at bit.ly/UOTO1
3. Share the photo / video on social media using the hashtag #UndiesChallenge
4. Tag 3 other people. They have 24 hours!
FYI when posting to a Facebook status you need to upload the photo first before pasting in the text. Or if you have problems, paste the text as a comment.
If you aren’t in the US, don’t worry, you can pay by PayPal which will just charge you the equivalent in your own currency.
You don’t have to wait to be nominated. This challenge has just launched, so the more people who join in and nominate their friends/family/fave celeb the better.
Follow the Undies on the Outside Challenge
If you want to see other people’s #undieschallenge pics and keep up-to-date with its progress, you can follow Undies on the outside in the following ways:
And for your amusement, some more pics of me taking the Undies Challenge and my Mum who you will also see flaunting her knickers on the official website.
What a fabulous idea 🙂