The mysterious disease known as Lyme

Six years ago my cousin became very sick. Seemingly out of no where she was bedridden, unable to take care of her three kids and at times had to crawl to the bathroom on her hands and knees when her legs failed from beneath her.

It was scary and no one knew what was wrong. She spent her days in the hospital until they released her when tests didn’t come to any conclusions. She spent months going back and forth to specialists to no avail. She had to quit her job as she could not function as the nurse on her feet, a job she loved so much.

It wouldn’t be until nearly 15 months of her out of work and sitting at home in agony before she talked to a doctor about the possibility of her illness being from a tick bite after doing much of her own research around her symptoms. Living in the northeastern United States, ticks are a familiar nuisance to us every summer and fall.

You can see here on this map from CEU fast that her county (Duchess County NY) actually falls in one of the top 25 for lyme in the country, not something to be proud of. Her county itself had 275 confirmed cases in 2019. Her illness began over 10 years ago now and although Lyme disease was known, I don’t think it was talked about as much as it is today.

Bringing awareness to lyme disease is one of my cousins passions. She has been on podcasts discussing her ordeal and today she is able to work and take care of her children thankfully due to extensive treatments and rehabilitation. Lyme can affect everyone differently and prevention and early intervention are the keys to keeping everyone in your family safe.