Eleane -Lyme disease awareness
Donation protected
Hi and thank you for taking a moment to read about our much needed fundraising campaign. I never thought i'd have to reach out in this way to friends, friends of friends and family however we've arrived at a point where some help is needed. The story...
For the last 3 years Eleane, my beautiful wife, has gone through a large variety of symptoms that have made her health steadily decline. She would repeatedly say to me:
"I don't feel well, I don't feel normal, I feel dizzy, nauseous, I can't catch my breath, I have pain in my heart, my back, my joints, my head, my vains hurt, I'm exhausted, I can't sleep, my arms are tingling, I have shooting/stabbing pains in different parts of my body, my toes are numb, I feel as though something is attacking my blood etc. etc etc."
For the first year I thought she was a hypochondriac and she was driving me crazy but then things got more serious. We've ended up at the hospital a few times because she was having chest pains and thought she was going to have a heart attack resulting in a severe anxiety attacks. The last time at the hospital she was having weird symptoms on the right side of her face and the pain started going up her spine to her neck. They took a CT scan to make sure it wasn't a stroke which it was not thank God. However to our surprise a benign Meningioma tumour was discoverd on the surface of her brain. Although scary, the tumour was a best case scenario and will now be monitored to ensure slow growing. There is a possibility of surgically removing it a later time if any unwanted symptoms arise. This just added to an already very stressful situation and definitely was not welcomed. As symptoms increased so did the multiple doctors appointments, blood tests and exams to try and get to the bottom of it all. No doctor or specialist could give any proper diagnosis so she took it upon herself to research what could be causing all of these symptoms. Around this same time her digestive system drasticly changed resulting in a referal to a Gastrointerologist. Unfortunately again the root cause of the problem not found.
Now deep into research she came across a story about someone with ALL of the same symptoms who was diagnosed with Lyme disease. There was also a photo of the classic bullseye rash that comes from the bite of a tick. We looked at each other shocked and both recalled a time when she had this exact same bullseye rash. That was the moment the light went on and we started down the road towards diagnosing possible Lyme disease.
This finding however didn't explain the gastro problems but she was able to identify and self diagnosis a possible cause of these symptoms too. A yeast overgowth in the gastrointestinal tract called Candida Albicans.
To prove the existence of the Candida she decided to go to a Naturopathic Doctor who performed a variety of blood tests that are not offered through our current medical system. Tests were concluded and Candida did came back positive. We also learned that Candida affects a lot more of the body than just the gastrointestinal tract. In fact, Candida and Lyme symptoms mimic each other in many ways so we still had to know if Lyme was present due to the bullseye rash she had so long ago.
Due to the current protocols in Canada, accurate diagnosis and treatment is extremely hard to come by. Canada doesn't recognize or perform proper Lyme testing so we paid to send blood samples to Igenex lab in California. We have just recieved results and they are positive for Lyme disease.
This is where you come in...
The treatment protocol is a constant, long and expensive one. Nothing is covered by the Canadian Medical Services Plan or our extended medical plan and IV treatments, perhaps 100's, are needed to build her immune system and many other therapies to combat the disease. We've already spent $2500 just in diagnosing and testing and haven't even started the treatments yet. The money we're hoping to raise will cover treatment costs and help to cover living expenses as a probable leave from work is necessary to focus on getting well.
We hope this story brings some awareness about Lyme disease and the struggle to get a proper diagnosis as most of the time people are misdiagnosed. The story above is 3 years in the making and hopefully anyone else going through a similar struggle can be informed and get on top of it sooner.
Lyme disease is on the rise in Canada, yet diagnostics, treatment, physician and public awareness are largely inadequate. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (https://canlyme.com/) is dedicated to raising awareness and promoting Lyme disease research, education and treatment.
Thank you very much for your time and support.
Love Dustin & Eleane & Disco our doggy :)
For the last 3 years Eleane, my beautiful wife, has gone through a large variety of symptoms that have made her health steadily decline. She would repeatedly say to me:
"I don't feel well, I don't feel normal, I feel dizzy, nauseous, I can't catch my breath, I have pain in my heart, my back, my joints, my head, my vains hurt, I'm exhausted, I can't sleep, my arms are tingling, I have shooting/stabbing pains in different parts of my body, my toes are numb, I feel as though something is attacking my blood etc. etc etc."
For the first year I thought she was a hypochondriac and she was driving me crazy but then things got more serious. We've ended up at the hospital a few times because she was having chest pains and thought she was going to have a heart attack resulting in a severe anxiety attacks. The last time at the hospital she was having weird symptoms on the right side of her face and the pain started going up her spine to her neck. They took a CT scan to make sure it wasn't a stroke which it was not thank God. However to our surprise a benign Meningioma tumour was discoverd on the surface of her brain. Although scary, the tumour was a best case scenario and will now be monitored to ensure slow growing. There is a possibility of surgically removing it a later time if any unwanted symptoms arise. This just added to an already very stressful situation and definitely was not welcomed. As symptoms increased so did the multiple doctors appointments, blood tests and exams to try and get to the bottom of it all. No doctor or specialist could give any proper diagnosis so she took it upon herself to research what could be causing all of these symptoms. Around this same time her digestive system drasticly changed resulting in a referal to a Gastrointerologist. Unfortunately again the root cause of the problem not found.
Now deep into research she came across a story about someone with ALL of the same symptoms who was diagnosed with Lyme disease. There was also a photo of the classic bullseye rash that comes from the bite of a tick. We looked at each other shocked and both recalled a time when she had this exact same bullseye rash. That was the moment the light went on and we started down the road towards diagnosing possible Lyme disease.
This finding however didn't explain the gastro problems but she was able to identify and self diagnosis a possible cause of these symptoms too. A yeast overgowth in the gastrointestinal tract called Candida Albicans.
To prove the existence of the Candida she decided to go to a Naturopathic Doctor who performed a variety of blood tests that are not offered through our current medical system. Tests were concluded and Candida did came back positive. We also learned that Candida affects a lot more of the body than just the gastrointestinal tract. In fact, Candida and Lyme symptoms mimic each other in many ways so we still had to know if Lyme was present due to the bullseye rash she had so long ago.
Due to the current protocols in Canada, accurate diagnosis and treatment is extremely hard to come by. Canada doesn't recognize or perform proper Lyme testing so we paid to send blood samples to Igenex lab in California. We have just recieved results and they are positive for Lyme disease.
This is where you come in...
The treatment protocol is a constant, long and expensive one. Nothing is covered by the Canadian Medical Services Plan or our extended medical plan and IV treatments, perhaps 100's, are needed to build her immune system and many other therapies to combat the disease. We've already spent $2500 just in diagnosing and testing and haven't even started the treatments yet. The money we're hoping to raise will cover treatment costs and help to cover living expenses as a probable leave from work is necessary to focus on getting well.
We hope this story brings some awareness about Lyme disease and the struggle to get a proper diagnosis as most of the time people are misdiagnosed. The story above is 3 years in the making and hopefully anyone else going through a similar struggle can be informed and get on top of it sooner.
Lyme disease is on the rise in Canada, yet diagnostics, treatment, physician and public awareness are largely inadequate. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (https://canlyme.com/) is dedicated to raising awareness and promoting Lyme disease research, education and treatment.
Thank you very much for your time and support.
Love Dustin & Eleane & Disco our doggy :)
Organizer
Dustin McNulty
Organizer
Vancouver, BC
