Established in June 2016, the support group was founded by Janine Hurd after creating a Facebook Group, known as Tameside Fibromyalgia Warriors, to bring people together living with Fibromyalgia and / or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), within the Tameside area in Greater Manchester. Janine felt that actual face-to-face group meetings would be more beneficial then just a Facebook group, so after a few months of fundraising, the first meeting was held on 24^th September 2016.

After a year, Janine, took the decision to step down, and handed over the running of the group to Jennifer Gill, whom moved the group from its original home to Ashton Fire Station’s community room, where the group introduced activities such as Crafting, Tai Chi and Games evenings. She implemented three other Trustee’s and set out to increase the well being of those suffering with the illness within Tameside and surrounding area’s. However, as the group grew, the name of the group began to cause problems with members wondering whether they would be outside of the groups support area. The trustees took the decision to extend the boundaries to not only support people in Tameside, but in Oldham, Stockport and East Manchester too. To help reduce confusion they changed the name to Fibro Fighters, which was a play on the Fire Fighters station the group was based at.

After the 2020 Covid pandemic, the group struggled to get back on its feet. The fire stations community room had permanently closed down, engagement for face-to-face meetings was at an all time low, which effected the groups funds, and activities had to be cancelled. The group slowly got back on its feet with new members joining and enjoying attending the meetings. As new members came, Jeni, realised that those that have a chronic illness, rarely have just the one. After a consultation with the Trustee’s and the group members, it was decided to change the name and the mission statement to support all chronic illnesses and disabilities within East Manchester. The group decided to re-launch itself as Chronic Illness and Disability Support Group on the Eighth Birthday of the support groups first group meeting, 24^th September 2024.