Actress Jennie Jacques, who plays Queen Judith in History Channel's hit show Vikings ( inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok) is honoured to be joined on the judging panel for this Halloween themed bake off, by the lead Katheryn Winnick who plays Vikings Queen Lagertha, Alyssa Sutherland who plays Queen Aslaug and Amy Bailey who plays Queen Kwenthrith. If you are lucky enough to be STAR BAKER baker at least one (or more!) of these powerful ladies may very well give you and your bake a royal shout out! Plus, the KING or QUEEN of pumpkin carving will also get the recognition deserved... And, last but not least, the best vintage fancy dress photo will get a mention too! HERE, HERE.
We suggest a minimum of £4 per entry but hugely appreciate any amount! Every penny counts and we are eternally grateful for your participation.
DONATE here for David Tuller!
And/or
DONATE here for Liz Nevra!
This round we are raising funds for investigative journalist David Tuller to continue providing the ME community with his expertise in
We suggest a minimum of £4 per entry but hugely appreciate any amount! Every penny counts and we are eternally grateful for your participation.
DONATE here for David Tuller!
And/or
DONATE here for Liz Nevra!
This round we are raising funds for investigative journalist David Tuller to continue providing the ME community with his expertise in reporting on ME, ME/CFS, Long Covid, and "Medically Unexplained Symptoms."
We are also raising funds for dear Liz Nevra, to be able to keep safe housing and access medical care.
Your bake, pumpkin and/or tagged fancy dress photo will be appreciated so very much.
We welcome and encourage ALL levels and ages of baking & bakers.
This is a fun, light hearted way to raise funds and awareness for a serious cause.
"Halloween" is the theme.
But, any theme, any cake, any bake,
is always welcome!
We welcome all levels of CREATIVITY for our PUMPKIN carving contest!
Your participation is hugely appreciated.
P
We welcome and encourage ALL levels and ages of baking & bakers.
This is a fun, light hearted way to raise funds and awareness for a serious cause.
"Halloween" is the theme.
But, any theme, any cake, any bake,
is always welcome!
We welcome all levels of CREATIVITY for our PUMPKIN carving contest!
Your participation is hugely appreciated.
Perhaps you'd like to TAG us in an old/vintage HALLOWEEN photo to join in the FANCY DRESS competition?
We accept photo's from any year, any age; 80's 90's 00's or 2024!
If you have ME/CFS or Long Covid (OR any illness/disability) which might mean you feel more comfortable to enter the baking part with an assigned virtual baking buddy then we can sort this for you.
to find out more.
And/or see COLLABORATIVE BAKER below for more info
In order for The Viking Queens to see your entry we need you to tag us @bake4mecfs or you can attach photo's of your bake on an email.
The same applies to your PUMPKIN pics and of course your fun fancy dress photo's too!
If we have not reposted or liked/acknowledged your entry after 48 hours then please do drop us an email bake4me.social@gm
In order for The Viking Queens to see your entry we need you to tag us @bake4mecfs or you can attach photo's of your bake on an email.
The same applies to your PUMPKIN pics and of course your fun fancy dress photo's too!
If we have not reposted or liked/acknowledged your entry after 48 hours then please do drop us an email bake4me.social@gmail.com
to check in.
Go get creative and thank you for supporting.
If you want to enter a bake but you cannot commit because of your illness/disability, we have sourced several COLLABORATIVE BAKERS who would be over-joyed to bake on your behalf!
You still get the fun of participation and creative control...
Our bakers will bake a cake inspired by the idea/concept you suggest.
All you need to do is DM @BAKE4MECFS or email bake4me.social@gmail.com
We know how isolating and limiting it can be to live with chronic illness. And we want as many warriors with ME/CFS, Long Covid, POTS or any chronic illness to feel that they're included.
Carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns started 100's of years ago in Ireland.
FUN FACT - this is where Vikings was filmed!
Back then they were made out of turnips or potatoes, but when Irish immigrants arrived in America the PUMPKIN carving tradition was born.
And we LOVE it.
It's creative, seasonal and a chance for you to show off what you've got!
We were inspired by a post from Maria who started the birthday fundraiser to help her friend Liz.
Maria posted a lovely birthday photo from when she was small and we thought wouldn't it be fun to have a contest where we can use our old photographs?
This would enable more people with M.E. to join in too. Plus, who doesn't love to have a good belly laugh at the golden oldies pics?!
Meet Jennie Jacques British Actress, avid reader and the creator of BAKE4MECFS. Jennie will soon interview David Tuller with George Monbiot so stay tuned by subscribing via JJ'S YouTube The Monster In ME
"I am in my 6th year with an ME/CFS diagnosis; even at the milder end (today) I vouch this is a horrific illness. The science desperately
Meet Jennie Jacques British Actress, avid reader and the creator of BAKE4MECFS. Jennie will soon interview David Tuller with George Monbiot so stay tuned by subscribing via JJ'S YouTube The Monster In ME
"I am in my 6th year with an ME/CFS diagnosis; even at the milder end (today) I vouch this is a horrific illness. The science desperately needs funding.
Luckily, I am seeing some improvement(s) to date which I hope will continue.
But it has been half a decade of living this nightmare and although grateful for the progress/relief to date, in many respects I remain a shadow of my former self.
ME/CFS robs lives - it can be relentless and unforgiving. It
will be my prerogative to fight for the science to be sufficiently funded to help those who do not and cannot recover."
Meet David Tuller.
This photo was taken by his friend, the talented Anil Van Der Zee, a former professional ballet dancers and patient with ME.
"It has been an incredible privilege to be able to pursue this project. My heart goes out to everyone who has had to deal with these terrible illnesses."
Learn more about David through his work here,
Meet David Tuller.
This photo was taken by his friend, the talented Anil Van Der Zee, a former professional ballet dancers and patient with ME.
"It has been an incredible privilege to be able to pursue this project. My heart goes out to everyone who has had to deal with these terrible illnesses."
Learn more about David through his work here, Virology blog
And here is a quote from an article in 2015 by David, who has the utmost respect and empathy for ME as he refers to the name 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome'
"In the course of my reporting, I’d realised that the disease was both devastating and widely misunderstood. People were really, really sick—some were homebound for months and years at a stretch. Yet their condition had been saddled with one of the most condescending names ever given a major illness."
ME/CFS is a life-altering and complex multi-system disease that persists for a minimum of 6 months. People who are diagnosed with this chronic illness usually have a very poor quality of life and can often be unable to cope with even general daily activity; taking a shower or brushing teeth can be virtually impossible in some cases. At the severe end of this illness, digesting food can sadly become a very serious issue too. ME can be fatal and for too long has been seriously neglected.
The illness can fluctuate for a portion of people (moderate to mild) which means they do get some relief on odd days, but even 'mild' ME/CFS is life altering. For others it can be severe and constant.
There are millions of people missing with this illness and many more off the back of LONG COVID. The cause of ME/CFS remains unknown and this is why we desperately need to help the researchers!
We have also raised awareness for POTS before, because there is a strong cross over with this illness and ME/CFS; pregnancy, major surgery, trauma, viral illness sometimes being a trigger. To put it very simply, POTS is a disability which causes an abnormal increase in heart-rate sitting/standing. Many patients need to lay down/rest for long periods of time in a desperate attempt to stabilise.
LYME DISEASE has been on the list of charity's you can donate to before. Why? Well, "ME/CFS has been linked to a number of viral infections, specifically Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) and Human Herpes Viruses (HHV). However, bacterial infections may be another possible source of infection in ME/CFS. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks."
Patients can be left bed-bound and house-bound for years due to physical disability and associated chronic pain. There are overlaps with other illnesses such as fibromyalgia, POTS (as mentioned) and even multiple chronic and persistent new infections can sometimes take advantage of the person who is already unwell.
More recently we welcomed Endometriosis UK to our list. This is the name given to the condition 'where cells similar to the ones in the lining of the womb (uterus) are found elsewhere in the body. Each month these cells react in the same way to those in the womb, building up and then breaking down and bleeding. Unlike the cells in the womb that leave the body as a period, this blood has no way to escape.' Studies have found that over a third of women with CFS report Endometriosis as a comorbid condition.
Moving forward we would like to continue to find ways to involve other associated illnesses into our bake offs. For now, we fight, first and foremost for ME. Why? Well...
Imagine lockdown, forever and then inject the flu plus a heavy hangover, with out the partying - you might get an idea of how some days for some people with these sort of illnesses can be. Oxygen starved might (arguably!) be a better word than 'fatigue.' Not to mention the severe chronic pain which more often than not accompanies the aforementioned. There are no words to describe how bad it can be.
For several decades, those diagnosed have suffered in almost complete silence because the science is criminally under funded. And moreover, until recently, a disgraceful stigma had been attached to those who could not recover from ME/CFS. No one (no one!) chooses to lay in bed for weeks, months or years. Try it for a day or two - or three - keep going if you can - you'll soon discover it ain't no walk in the park; pun literally intended.
Secondary depression and suicidal thoughts or suicide itself can sadly also be associated with this horrific illness. We must give people with ME/CFS a voice. And baking contest is just a light hearted way to raise awareness for an illness which is currently robbing more and more lives.
We need your help!
Baking a cake and donating some spare change will contribute to raising awareness for ME/CFS and funds.
ME/CFS can be triggered by many forms of trauma, the most common form is a viral infection. COVID-19 is a potential trigger for many more cases of ME/CFS, which we are starting to see - "post" infectious illness and long term viral damage and debilitation is escalating.
The COVID crisis has presented a unique opportunity to understand how a viral infection — in this case COVID-19 — may develop into ME/CFS in some patients.
#BAKE4MECFS is a fun and simple way to show those who are suffering, we hear them and we care!
At Bake4ME/CFS, our mission is to steer the narrative behind this horrific neuro-immuno-metabolic disease in the right direction! We might only be a light-hearted baking contest but we have a lot more cooking in the oven! SHOP HERE for some fun muggaluvvas! And be assured a % of any profit we make will be donated to one of the charities from our list at the end of the tax year.
This Saxon Queen duo from the infamous show Vikings kicked off our first round of baking - actresses Jennie Jacques and Amy Bailey!
For the 2nd Round of BAKE4MECFS we were lucky enough to have English Actress, comedian and writer Miranda Hart join the judging panel! And in collaboration with The Miranda Shop, Miranda Hart is back to judge Round 8! Such Fun!
Talented cake designer and teacher Georgia Green (Georgia's Cakes) kicked off round 3 with the inspirational Anna 'M.E myself and I' who has raised £20,000 since 2013 for ME/CFS!
Round 4 - the spooky special - we were delighted to have Actress and recipe creator Fay Ripley along with GBBO Finalist Helena Garcia on our Halloween bake off judging panel...
Round 5 - The Viking Queen herself helped us to judge the Christmas Round! Do you think she uses her sword to cut the cake?
Round 6 - The Ultimate Story Book Bake Off! We were lucky enough to have Irish Novelist known for works like PS I LOVE YOU! And disabled writer and blogger Lorna @creamcrackeredblog