Overview
- Dobbin, who spoke to BBC Sport on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, said she is bedbound about 22 hours each day and suffers severe “crashes” after small amounts of activity.
- She traces the start of her decline to back‑to‑back COVID infections and glandular fever in winter 2021–22, with symptoms worsening through the 2022 competition season.
- After tests and consultations with multiple specialists, clinicians told her the diagnosis was myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and that effective treatments are limited.
- Dobbin now only gets out of bed to eat or use the bathroom and has left home just five times in 2026 so far, a change her family says has cost her independence and ability to work.
- Health authorities define ME as a chronic, multi‑system illness with no cure, and Dobbin hopes her profile will push research into links between ME and post‑COVID conditions.