Liz has Lyme disease and a co-infection that has drastically changed her life and her family's life. I don't think I can explain it better than Liz herself. The following was what she posted as a thank you letter to her parent's church. Please consider donating anything you can to help this awesome family! Even a donation of a $1 is one more dollar that will help with medical expenses. 

"No one is prepared to be sick. I wasn’t prepared for what happened to me 10 months ago. At first, well, once I got past the terror of thinking I was going to die, I had a great attitude. But month after month, with little to no improvement, my attitude has changed. I have learned a lot about illness. When I think of someone being sick, I think mostly of that person and his or her struggle. I never stopped to really understand the whole picture. For me, the whole picture is that this illness has kept me from my children for 10 months, which is by far the most devastating side effect of this illness for me. The whole picture is my husband losing his job because I can’t drive anymore, and there is nothing we can do about that, but for him to have to drive me. The whole picture is us taking a loan for $10,000 from our bank and spending every last penny of that on doctors, maxing out every credit card, and having to borrow money (being that the majority of my medical care isn’t covered by insurance).

Before all of this began, my husband took some money from his retirement. We had planned to pay off our cars, leaving us only with the debt of our mortgage. Instead, we hope for it to make a dent in my medical bills. Problem is, because of human greed and gossip, my husband hasn’t received this money. We couldn’t even afford to buy our children’s Christmas presents this year, we had to borrow money from my parents to cover the costs of Christmas and my medication for this month. The whole picture is that because I’m sick, my immune system no longer works properly. Therefore, I am always sick on top of being sick. The whole picture is strain on a family, on a marriage, on friendships. The whole picture is complete isolation for me. I can no longer drive, I can no longer just walk about as I please, I only have one friend left that visits, I am not able to go to church because all the clapping gives me seizures. The whole picture is my children can no longer live their lives. Isabella is a very talented swimmer, and can’t swim, because I can’t drive her there. Anne is gifted with the piano, and can no longer take lessons. They all used to take classes outside of the house, as they should, but no longer can. What all of this comes down to is that my illness doesn’t just affect me, it has drastically changed what life looks like for my entire family. Yet the world keeps turning. All the people we know still get to go to church, to the zoo, to co-ops. Our friend’s children get to go to drama classes, play sports, take dance.

Part of me is joyful and so full of thankfulness to God for allowing me to live. Not everyone has it as good as I do. There are children with cancer. Young mothers given a death sentence of cancer that has gone too far. Car accidents, fires, the list goes on and on. They would give anything to have my problems. The other part of me is sad and bitter to be missing out on my children’s lives, to always be in so much pain, to watch my husband suffer at work because of my illness, to watch my children suffer because they no longer have me (none of them even ask for me anymore), to have put our family into such extreme debt.

When that bitterness starts to take over the joy, something always happens. Maybe a friend sends a care package. My brother in-law recently came to care for me and has made the world of difference for our family. Someone will stop by to spend time with my kiddos and to show them some love. God always makes sure to shine His way in when I can no longer see the light. But recently, not any of the churches that we attend here in SC (when I was healthy enough to attend), but my parents church in CT did something so big, and at a time when we needed it the most. My guess is they don’t know how much we need what they gave us, at this very moment. But they are children of God, and they chose to act as His hands and feet, and they reminded me of why I need to remember the joy and grace that God gives me, instead of the sadness and hurt that the devil wants me to see. I know I have said a lot of words, but none of these words represent the feeling I felt when Rob handed me that card. I was with your church for such a short time, but you don’t need to be there long to feel the love and connection you all have. I feel so blessed to be a part of that, even if just for a season. Though, I hope to stay in touch forever. Your church left an impression on my heart, and I didn’t need this gift to feel blessed to know you all. But your gift brought me out of a depressed state. God used you to show me that no matter where my heart and mind is, He’s still here, He’s always here. And that is a gift that no words can express my gratefulness, I can only try.

So, thank you. Obviously thank you for your very generous gift. But, thank you for more than that. Thank you for showing me the good in this world, thank you for reminding me that we haven’t been forgotten, thank you for reminding us that God is still here with me. My heart will always hold a special place for this church and the beautiful souls who attend it. I thank you, and my family thanks you. You have helped us with my medical expenses, but you have also helped our hearts. Thank you." ~Liz Bigda