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Whitney Dafoe

@whitneydafoe.bsky.social
2.4K followers 7 following 176 posts

Severe ME/CFS patient and advocate. Writer, photographer, filmmaker. artist, activist, creative. Bedridden since 2013 sick since 2004. Never. Giving. Up. ✊

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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The fidgety “I NEED TO DO SOMETHING” feeling while feeling brain dead and unable to use your mind is the worst combination. I’m too antsy to watch TV or movies (I know I’m lucky to be able to), 1/2
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I have to go back to the dentist again for a 3rd (!!) visit in 3 months. it’s so much for my body to take, but unavoidable. I haven’t recovered from my last trip 3 weeks ago. And the feeling I have right now can only be described as fear. Fear for what it will be like afterwards. Especially if I’ve
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
From Nothingness A video of me reading a poem about living with ME/CFS and the void of emotion that can strike us during sick days/worse periods and how absolutely devastating and dehuhumanizing it can feel. ——————————— #mecfs #LongCovid #ChronicIllness #pwME #spoonie
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
From Nothingness ➡️ Scroll images for text slides ➡️ ———— #mecfs #severemecfs #chronicillness #pwME #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The Compassion Gap In this video I explore the gap in compassion between ME/CFS deaths and suffering and the death and suffering of other people whom the world rallies around, fights for, and supports. And what the root cause might be. ————————————— #MECFS #SevereMECFSawarenessDay #pwME #spoonie
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Sick Of This BS I’m tired of all of it. I’m tired of being tired and I’m tired of having to use the word tired to describe something so much more profound. Watch for more 🔥🔥🔥💙 I’m never giving up though, I will have freedom!!! 😤💙 ——————————————— #mecfs #LongCovid #ChronicIllness #pwME #spoonie
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
People from the "wellness" dimension judging people with an illness they have not even bothered to google. What the bloody hell. You can’t call that "wellness" anymore it’s so misinformed and uneducated, it’s just "nice sounding nonsense”. Or in many cases, "harmful nonsense”.
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Where does it go when you lose it? When you feel as if you’re in a dream watching your life unfold somewhere else? Where is that place? When you can sense yourself but you feel that it is not truly in you? Where has it gone? Where do we go when we are lost to the fog? #MECFS
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
I just woke up and had an idea for a project I desperately want to work on. And I felt this rush of excitement, not even working on it but just being able to be mentally engaged with it for a moment. It’s absurd how excited we are to simply live our lives and yet branded "malingerers" 😡 #MECFS
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Marushka-T @marushka-t.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Whitney describes the calculus of everyday life when living with #ME-CFS. Able-bodied people probably can't imagine having to make decisions like this to get through an average day. www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #disability #chronicillness #PwME
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Smile For ME @smileformeuk.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Share a story by @swastrosarah.bsky.social in memory of Maeve Boothby O’Neill: www.smileforme.org.uk/shareastorymaeve 🩵
smileforme.org.uk
Share a story – Maeve Boothby O’Neill
In memory of Maeve Boothby O’Neill b.1994   ME. 2008   d. 2021 Maeve died too young.  ME did not kill her.  Medical neglect did.  She was born a scholar and, by t…
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
A video exploration of the impossible decisions ME/CFS patients have to make, constantly having to decide between two options that will both make our health worse… ♿️ Watch, Listen or Read on my blog 👇 www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=...
whitneydafoe.com
Impossible Decisions
A video exploration of the impossible decisions ME/CFS patients have to make, constantly having to decide between two options that will both make our health worse. And how much more difficult these d...
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sarah boothby @swastrosarah.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
#pwME, never forget, you are always more than the illness. Even if it kills you, you are much more than it. Your are more than all the medical ignorance and social stigma you endure.
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Imagine watching everything you care about in a house that starts to catch fire.  And there’s a firehose one meter from you, but you're tied to a chair and can’t move.  So you have to sit there and watch it all burn.  That is everyday, over and over again, living with #MECFS 💙
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Imagining but never doing Dreaming but never experiencing Longing but never feeling Seeing but never touching Believing but never receiving Envisioning but never achieving Driven but never accomplishing ⠀⠀⠀⠀Loving but always being alone. The experience of living with ME/CFS. —————— 💙 Whitney
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I am really sick today…It’s so important to remember that the way you feel in this moment is fleeting. It’s like a ball that keeps rolling, and you just have no idea where it’s going to wind up or where it’s going to land…
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
A clarification of my previous video about how cathartic it feels to be treated by the medical system for a condition *other* than #MECFS - a known condition that the medical system knows how to treat, with decades of research and studies and drug trials and very well predictable outcomes.
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Before leaving the hospital I had some conflicting emotions about going home versus staying there. There’s something deeply cathartic about having a medical issue that’s known. You go to the hospital and they diagnose you and they have a treatment plan and follow that plan… #mecfs #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
When you have #severeMECFS, you can't be very active at all, so if you're lucky and can tolerate a screen (and many or most can't), about the only thing you can work on involves your computer. 1/2
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
In The Hospital In January this year I spent 3 weeks in the hospital for a serious infection and related conditions. My experience there was at once a surprise and a discouraging setback. Read the whole piece and watch the video on my blog 💙 www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #mecfs #LongCovid
whitneydafoe.com
In the Hospital
In January this year I spent 3 weeks in the hosptial for a pretty serious infection and related conditions. My experience there was at once a surprise and a discouraging setback that added to my symptom burden. In this post I relate my experience and thoughts on what it means for all of us.
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
I want to venture out into the garden today on Easter, find an egg, open it up, and find my life waiting for me in there.  On pause.  Swallow it whole and then do anything I want.  Anything.  I just want to picture it and go, my body firing into action.  Follow the white rabbit! #mecfs #pwME
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Living just one more day with #MECFS is the saddest, most horrifying thing I could imagine. But I’m going to do it. I’m going to wake up tomorrow and let another day slide past me without living it. And I’m going to get up the next day and do it again. Acceptance, letting go, courage…
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traceydooley.bsky.social @traceydooley.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
A quote from 2024, but sadly still urgently relevant today: "Care for ME needs a complete overhaul worldwide if we are to care for ME patients the way we care for patients with any other health condition." — Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #pwME #MECFS
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I can’t act.  I can think of worlds from simple to profound.  But I can’t act on making any of it.  So I sit and watch it.  And I watch the world pass by without it.  And without me.  This is the torture of #MECFS.  We are HERE and we are ALIVE but we cannot act on LIFE to LIVE.
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Drinking coffee to try to get my mind to work feels like pushing on a cow's butt to try to get it to walk. #MECFS #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
I feel like a war torn soldier, at war with the whole world for the most basic human rights.  But I'm a devastatingly fragile, severely chronically sick person.  Why don’t I feel like I’m being taken care of by a kind and loving society that wants me to thrive again? #mecfs #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
This waiting game, Waiting for a ride, To that golden land where, Life happens. How long must we wait, We millions?
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
I had a very serious medical incident happen right after posting my last video about talking again and have been through a lot…I'm ok now, I’m recovering… Read or listen to the whole piece on my blog👇 www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #mecfs #chronicillness #pwME #LongCovid #resiliance
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
I started eating again in 2024. After 11 years not eating a crumb of food or a drop of water. In 2025 I have started ‼️ TALKING ‼️ again after 12 years of not saying a word to anyone! What will 2026 bring❓ 👀 Watch, Listen and Read the whole post in my blog: www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=...
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I'm healthy because I’m a good person and I pray and I deserve it. Oh wait, I’m not healthy. Fuck me. #mecfs #LongCovid #chronicillness #Disability
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
When you have a better day, and you're scared to do anything with the energy/clarity because you know how fast you can lose it and it just feels so good to *feel* more alive, you're happy just thinking and feeling. You truly know how sacred life is, and how relentless ME/CFS is. #MECFS
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans 😍  My new weapon against the dark lord.  For some reason these little buggers help a lot with brain function (but with limits, they don't cure bad days). No chest rush or jitters like coffee, just a brain boost. Somebody stop me! 😊 #mecfs #pwME #selfportrait
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
I can hear Whitney whispering, but I can't make out the words well enough to decipher their meaning or their purpose. I know I am still alive, still yearning, still clawing for life, but all of the things I used to know are hushed, dulled, numbed. #MECFS #LongCovid #pwme
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
The moon outside my window.  During certain times of the year it moves down through the trees and I can see it for a fleeting moment between branches before it disappears down over the bushes.  It’s the only time I’ve seen the moon since 2013;  Through the bars of my window. 1/2
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
I feel like my brain is dispersed in this 2 meter nebulous area outside my head and I can’t access any of my thoughts because they’re too far away. #MECFS #LongCovid
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valebodi.bsky.social @valebodi.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
CHIPPING AWAY AT THE MYSTERIES OF #ME/CFS Renowned geneticist has spent the past 12 years focused on the disease that has taken so much from his son By Rachel Tompa In @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social @whitneydafoe.bsky.social @janetdafoe.bsky.social
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Everyday is a the beginning of a new dream in a way. We go to sleep dreaming of tomorrow and wake up and dare to dream. But when you have ME/CFS, so often day after day is a heartbreaking betrayal of those dreams by our bodies and minds and by the entire world around us. #MECFS #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
The only way to sleep more in the morning is to go back to sleep before you feel the need to pee. Peeing makes you move enough to get hungry, then you eat something and you can't help but check your phone… 1/2 #mecfs #chronicillness #pwME #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
TODAY:  Everything is too much to bear.  Everything that is good is gone.  All that is left is keeping on. (which I will) #mecfs #chronicillness #pwME #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
The *official* ME/CFS Food Pyramid!  Your path to better health and a brighter tomorrow, running over green hilltops with the wind in your hair, flying kites with loved ones, everyone laughing, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit 😘😉 💙 Whitney #mecfs #LongCovid #ChronicIllness
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valebodi.bsky.social @valebodi.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
The True Horror Of #ME/CFS By @whitneydafoe.bsky.social
whitneydafoe.com
The True Horror Of ME/CFS
The True Horror Of ME/CFS
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Raise your hand if you woke up feeling like an animal hit by a truck, hyperventilating on the side of the road 🙋
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
God grant me the serenity to accept the loss of my entire life, The strength to not have strength, And the wisdom to know when to lay down and hold the fuck still. The ME/CFS Prayer. 💙 Whitney #MECFS #LongCovid
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
Think back in history at some of the things we consider the greatest human creations or ideas or achievements. There are things just like that stuck in the minds of #MECFS patients all over the world right now that we will never see without a cure. So much trapped beauty. 💔
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
My Jtube broke and I have to go to the hospital and I’m feeling stressed... It is so hard seeing the real world and feeling it and then coming back to my room and closing all the doors... Read the whole piece on my blog: www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #MECFS #LongCovid
whitneydafoe.com
Remembering What Real Life Is Like
My Jtube broke finally and I have to go to the hospital tomorrow and I’m feeling stressed...It is so hard seeing the real world and really feeling it and then coming back to my room and closing all th...
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
When a healthy person's hopes and dreams are crushed, they often fall apart. ME/CFS patient's hopes and dreams are crushed over and over again. Every. Single. Day. 1/2 #SevereMEAwarenessDay #SevereMEDay #MECFS
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
To all those living in silence and darkness. Today we take a moment of silence to honor your courage, your bravery, your resilience, your strength, and we acknowledge your profound suffering, agony and loss… Read the whole piece here: www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #SevereMECFSAwarenessDay
whitneydafoe.com
A Moment of Silence for Severe ME/CFS Patients
To all those living in silence and darkness. Today we take a moment in silence and darkness to honor your courage, your bravery, your resilience, your strength, and we acknowledge your profound suffe...
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
That is ME/CFS. We live with world champion symptoms with no idea what is causing them or what will happen with those symptoms or what our future holds. We hold onto hope but are often crushed by this harsh, unrelenting illness… Read the whole piece on my blog: www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=...
whitneydafoe.com
Living In Unknowns
That is ME/CFS. We live with world champion symptoms with no idea what is causing them or what will happen with those symptoms or what our future holds. We hold onto hope but are often crushed by th...
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
I see people protesting the rights of many marginalized groups and important issues. I see people up in arms over injustices faced by people all around the world…BUT WE ARE DYING.…And I don’t see anyone even blinking an eye… Read the piece on my blog: www.whitneydafoe.com/mecfs/?post=... #mecfs
whitneydafoe.com
Too Many Of Us Are Dying
I see people protesting the rights of many marginalized groups and important issues. I see people up in arms over injustices faced by people all around the world…BUT WE ARE DYING. Not to mention suf...
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Whitney Dafoe @whitneydafoe.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Sometimes I feel like I'm in outer space watching earth from far off, floating in a space suit alone. But on better days, I get to come home and be a part of the world and it feels so good to be home.
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