This song is written in support of the #MillionsMissing protests that are happening globally in 2016 to demand more awareness of and research funding for the condition ME/CFS.

Photography: Karyn Adams

#MillionsMissing

Jenny was a painter
Her canvases described
Flowers found in nature
Defying odds just to survive

And she loved how they would blossom 
In the harshest of terrain
Mesmerising colours in the face of snow and rain.

But the things that shine the brightest are the ones that are cut down
Her body just as fragile as the orchids that she found
No shelter could be summoned from the ones who don't believe
They chipped away at her dignity

There are millions that are missing
Are millions who are chained
And they've never stopped believing 
That their lives can be reclaimed
They have trained to be survivors
They walk a path of stone
Worn out and alone

She rallies from her bedroom
She's a warrior online
She's not fighting for herself but for her sister Caroline

She had fallen so much younger, 
Yet to taste the fruits of life
Now she's lost her voice 
To take the mantle in this fight

There are children that she wanted
There's a job she'll never do
And sadder yet is that she's been forgotten but for a few

The ones who have the power they just wouldn't change their minds
Abandoned on the sidelines

There are millions that are missing
Are millions who are chained
And they've never stopped believing 
that their lives can be reclaimed
But they can't be left to flounder
This truth won't be outrun
There's work here to be done

Oh this life can be so frail
Those words til now have failed us
What'll you do

There are millions that are missing
Are millions who are chained
There's a growing sense of urgency
That something must be changed
If we face this thing together
Put our bodies on the line, 
If not now, when's the time.














#MillionsMissing

Naomi Flanagan