Join the Movement: Power Our Practitioners - Educating for Improved Health
By donating to our Christmas Appeal, you will empower us to educate and support GPs to diagnose, manage and treat Australians living with ME/CFS and long COVID.
Together, we can educate healthcare professionals to make a difference and provide much-needed relief. Join us in this movement and be a catalyst for change.
"[After attending an Emerge Australia education session I will] develop effective symptom management plans for ME/CFS patients with the latest recommendations as part of a shared decision-making process"
Make an impact:
- $50 helps provide resources
- $100 supports GP engagement
- $250 funds curriculum development
- $400 trains a GP
Meet Lily Schubert
A young woman who, despite facing an unimaginable battle, is a beacon of light for so many. Lily was just sixteen when her life changed in an instant. Her diagnosis: severe ME/CFS.
Lily at age sixteen, before ME/CFS
Within eighteen months, Lily was completely bedbound. She would spend the next six years in that state. For those six years, Lily lived in a darkened room. Isolated. Her days were spent in silence, too exhausted to speak, sometimes too weak to lift a glass of water. Her pain was relentless. Her fatigue was excruciating. Her brain felt like it was immersed in a thick, inescapable fog. Even light and sound became unbearable. She existed in a waking nightmare and life moved on without her.
Lily living with severe ME/CFS
I spent six years of my life never seeing the outside world. I lost my health, my strength, my life, and eventually I lost myself...It felt like everywhere I turned, no-one could help me. My body and spirit were put through irreparable harm by a medical system unequipped to support me, and very sadly I’m not alone. I’m one of 600,000 Australians living with ME/CFS or long COVID.
Will you help by donating today?
Sadly, the irreparable harm Lily experienced is not rare. It’s happening to hundreds of thousands across the country, living with ME/CFS, with long COVID, with complex, energy-limiting conditions that most doctors aren’t trained to recognise or treat.
Lily was one of the lucky few who eventually found clinicians who understood her illness; doctors who listened, who believed her, and who had the tools to help. It took time, but very slowly, Lily started to stabilise. On her first steps outside, after six years indoors, she stepped into the sunlight. That moment was a miracle, and it was the result of informed, compassionate care. Months later she was physically supported through every moment of her first swim. A year after that, she could stand on her own, by the water’s edge.
Lily has made significant progress, but she still lives with a debilitating condition. ME/CFS continues to limit her life in fundamental ways. Her health is fragile, her energy is finite, and her capacity is unpredictable. Even so, this cause matters deeply to her, and she’s choosing to use some of the energy she has to lend her voice as an Ambassador with Emerge Australia, for those who can’t.
We don’t want patients to fight this hard to be heard. That’s why we’re asking for your support in the lead up to Christmas giving, to educate GPs in evidence-based care for ME/CFS and related conditions. Every one doctor can go on to help dozens, even hundreds, of patients like Lily.
Lily has made significant progress, but she still lives with ME/CFS.
Lily’s health is improving, and now she is asking for your help to build a healthcare system that doesn’t overlook people with ME/CFS or long COVID.
Most of us have struggled to find a doctor who understands our condition, not because they don’t care, but because they were never trained to recognise or treat it.
Emerge Australia is making a difference
In the previous financial year, we presented to GPs and clinicians about ME/CFS and long COVID diagnosis, management and treatment around Australia, both at face-to-face sessions and online.
Our education and presentations are making a difference to GPs and their patients.
- 94% of participants likely to make changes in their practice following their education experience with Emerge Australia
- 93% of GP education participants likely to recommend Emerge Australia’s education to their colleagues
98% of GPs surveyed believe there is need for more GP education on ME/CFS and long COVID
With your help this Christmas, we can continue to deliver more education sessions in 2026 and make a real difference in the lives of those living with ME/CFS and long COVID.
"[After attending an Emerge Australia education session] I'll be better able to understand the Diagnostic criteria of ME/CFS and applying the diagnostic approach to the patients. Good to know about symptoms screen ME/CFS and pathophysiology of the disease process which would help to implement that knowledge in my clinical practice."
All donations over $2 are fully tax deductible, and 100% of your contribution directly supports our GP Education Program. While we continue our advocacy with government ministers, your donation ensures frontline medical professionals receive the knowledge they urgently need but currently lack.
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