ME patients often rely on off-label medication to manage a condition that can cause more than 200 symptoms, including nausea, headaches, poor cognitive function and brain fog.
A conversation, or even something so simple as a light too bright or a sound too loud, can cause a “crash” that lasts 24, 48 hours, or in the worst cases, months on end.
Dobbin, who has left the house on just five occasions this year, decided to do the interview with BBC Sport in a bid to raise awareness of the condition, despite knowing it could trigger a brutal deterioration in her health.
“Your government has said it wants to bring down the welfare bill,” Dobbin continued in her letter to Burnham.
She added: “ME is so debilitating, severe patients are violently unwell, bedbound and can’t even look after themselves, let alone work.
“To get the welfare bill down, I believe you need to fund research into this spiralling illness and help us all get our lives back.”
Since becoming prime minister in July, Burnham has vowed to reduce the UK’s welfare bill.
Spending on benefits has ballooned in recent years and is forecast to rise to £408.6bn in 2030-31, according to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions.
Between April 2019 and March 2024 the UK government invested around £6.5 million in research into ME.
Earlier this year, when Sir Keir Starmer was prime minister, it announced an investment of £4.75 million into a world-first genomics study into the condition.
BBC Sport has contacted Downing Street for comment.