Savannah has now lived with severe ME for several years - but the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South London is putting her life at risk
In an email to her primary doctor on 13 January, Savannah wrote: “Since 4 January, I have eaten five times in total. These were not full meals and were repeatedly interrupted by retching, heaving, and emesis until intake became impossible. This starvation is not by choice. It has occurred directly as a result of the hospital removing Cyclizine, a medication that is medically necessary for me to tolerate food, fluids, and other essential medications.”
Her Gofundme & details to how funds will be used:
Very Severe ME patient 23 year-old Savannah Victora-May is at … Sam Pearce needs your support for #SevereMErgency:Save Savannah from dying i
Please donate to help Savannah if you can, and spread this if you can’t. I can’t think of a more blatant example of medical racism and sexism in the UK than this.
(A quote from the article)
Savannah is asking for anyone who can to email the chief medical director at the hospital. The Canary has drafted a template email, which can be sent as is, or adapted, as follows:
Dear Mr Travis, I’m writing to you with concern for a patient who is rapidly deteriorating in your care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) patient Savannah Victora-May has been an inpatient with you since March 2025. After eleven months her condition has only continued to worsen, she now needs to transfer to an a safer environment. Unfortunately, there have been multiple cases like Savannah’s where hospitals without knowledge of how to treat severe ME patients, have caused significant and sometimes life-threatening declines. This was the case with 27-year-old severe ME patient Maeve Boothby O’Neill – who tragically died in 2021 as a direct result of inadequate care by Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Firstly, we ask that you urgently restore her intravenous fluids. If you do not take immediate action on this, Savannah will be at real risk of death. Savannah wishes to move to a hospice where palliative-trained staff will be equipped to stabilise her. Given this, I am writing to urge Queen Elizabeth Hospital to take steps to arrange her safe and urgent transfer into a hospice before her condition declines any further. We also urge the hospital to engage with advice from ME experts and read the up-to-date internationally-recognised guidance medical guidance on safe care for people with Severe ME that has been shared with her doctor, and train staff accordingly. Members of Savannah’s multi-disciplinary team have a duty to engage with this information. Most importantly, please acknowledge that as the patient, Savannah is the expert in her own condition. And therefore, I ask that your staff respect her agency to refuse treatments where she knows they will cause her to deteriorate further and actively listen to her when she communicates the care she needs. Yours sincerely,
You can send this to the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Chief Executive Ben Travis at the following email: [email protected]
I should have added this before (I didn’t know of the update) but Savannah is now receiving her fluids, but is having access to her IV threatened and painkillers reduced (which is just as life-threatening). So still send this email, but update it!
A South London hospital is still putting severe ME patient Savannah's life at risk and a clinician who psychologises ME might be why.
Updated email template! (Updates made by me, with changes made only to what was originally the third and fourth paragraphs, which are now the third through fifth)
Dear Mr Travis, I’m writing to you with concern for a patient who is rapidly deteriorating in your care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.Severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) patient Savannah Victora-May has been an inpatient with you since March 2025. After eleven months her condition has only continued to worsen, she now needs to transfer to an a safer environment. Unfortunately, there have been multiple cases like Savannah’s where hospitals without knowledge of how to treat severe ME patients, have caused significant and sometimes life-threatening declines. This was the case with 27-year-old severe ME patient Maeve Boothby O’Neill – who tragically died in 2021 as a direct result of inadequate care by Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. Firstly, we ask that you stop threatening her access to intravenous fluids. They are preventing her from dying, and any threat towards them is functionally a threat of death by purposeful medical neglect. Additionally, stop reducing her dosage of painkillers. Pain management is an incredibly important factor in medical care that the patient should be the primary arbiter of. Given that your staff have been willing to risk her life for lack of understanding and their own biases, they cannot not be trusted to restrict this care with her best interests at mind. In light of this, Savannah wishes to move to a hospice where palliative-trained staff will be equipped to stabilise her. Given this, I am writing to urge Queen Elizabeth Hospital to take steps to arrange her safe and urgent transfer into a hospice before her condition declines any further. We also urge the hospital to engage with advice from ME experts and read the up-to-date internationally-recognised guidance medical guidance on safe care for people with Severe ME that has been shared with her doctor, and train staff accordingly. Members of Savannah’s multi-disciplinary team have a duty to engage with this information. Most importantly, please acknowledge that as the patient, Savannah is the expert in her own condition. And therefore, I ask that your staff respect her agency to refuse treatments where she knows they will cause her to deteriorate further and actively listen to her when she communicates the care she needs. Yours sincerely, (Name)
