In late March, the Bateman Horne Center (BHC) held a screening of The Forgotten Plague: a Documentary of Life with M.E. The showing, presented in collaboration with the Westminster College Pre-Professional Health Society, brought together more than 100 people in attendance. Among them were pre-professional health students, patients, care providers and researchers who stayed after the screening for an open panel discussion.

In association with the documentary, the film’s creator, Ryan Pryor, has also created the Blue Ribbon Foundation, fostering an international dialogue toward finding the cause, cure, and prevention of neuro-immune diseases. He hopes to create a movement that will help educate doctors via Continuing Medical Education (CME) with a goal that every medical school includes ME/CFS in its curriculum.  In addition, he hopes it will allow a platform from which he can petition for increased NIH funding for this disease. His goals align well with the work of the Bateman Horne Center. Because ME/CFS and FM are not well taught in medical schools, leading many healthcare providers deliver sub-par care, Dr. Bateman has dedicated her clinic and her career to compassionate, comprehensive and well-informed care for patients. Beyond the clinic walls, she continues to help improve the national conversation around and comprehension of ME/CFS and FM.

Though the Bateman Horne Center is not among those featured in the film, we felt it was an important body of work to share and offered a tremendous opportunity to reach future healthcare providers, patients, caregivers and others to educate and engage them in a conversation around important issues related to ME/CFS.

After the screening, there was a wonderfully interactive open panel discussion that featured:

• Dr. Lucinda Bateman, Bateman Horne Center Founder and Chief Medical Officer
• Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD, Bateman Horne Center Research Liaison and noted ME/CFS researcher
• Jennifer Stay, patient of Dr. Bateman with ME/CFS and FM
• Heather Jarmon, mother of a young patient with ME/CFS

We encourage you to watch the film and then view the BHC panel discussion, or even hold your only screening for family and friends that includes our robust panel discussion:

The documentary is available for purchase on Amazon, iTunes, and through their website, which also offer tips and tools for holding your own local screening event. You can stay up to date on happenings with the Forgotten Plague by following them on Facebook.

Ryan Prior’s life imploded October 22, 2006 when he was struck down by a disease that dozens of doctors were powerless to diagnose, let alone treat. Against great odds, he becomes a reporter and ventures to tell the story of his suffering and improbable recovery. He is shocked that millions globally remain sidelined by the same disease, many bedridden for decades. Forgotten Plague is a journey into the hidden world of myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome). It is a chilling tale of our medical system’s failures in addressing many chronic, complex diseases. Yet it is also a riveting story of science’s remarkable ability to transform medicine and improve human life itself.