Help Shaelynn receive Medical treatment for Lymes disease

Hi, my name is Tasha. I am fundraising on behalf of my partner, Shaelynn and our entire family. Since I've known Shae, she has been suffering from undiagnosed Chronic Lymes Disease. In Canada our medical system doesn’t fully acknowledge the existence of Lymes and does not have the proper testing or treatment available. We are starting this GoFundMe for Shae and our family to help raise funds to send her to Mexico for treatment for this debilitating disease in hopes that she can go into remission and is able to live life to the fullest as she once did. Shae is only 27 years old and has so much more life to live and there is so much more she wants to accomplish. 10 months ago, Shae had to stop working due to her symptoms progressing. Most days she's unable to participate in hobbies she loves like going to the gym, teaching our children how to play sports and even low impact nature walks without being in extreme pain for days after. She has spent months going to different Dr’s, specialists, and hospitals trying to get answers for her symptoms. In these last 10 months of not working Shae's savings (that were going to buy her first house) have been drained by paying for private testing, specialist appointments and daily living expenses. Shae was finally diagnosed in April 2024 with chronic Lymes disease as well as a Co-infection called Bartonella, and heavy metal poisoning. We finally have answers, which we hoped would bring some relief. Unfortunately, being let down by our medical system, treatment is something we have had to search outside of our country for, which means it is not covered by any sort of medical coverage. We finally have a diagnosis and a treatment plan to get her back to health but because proper treatment is not available in Canada, we have decided to send her to Mexico to the LYMEXICO Clinic. This clinic specializes in Lymes disease, and the Lyme-literate doctor has personally also gone through Lymes as well. There she will undergo 4-5 weeks of intensive IV therapy and treatment, multiple hours a day, 6 days a week among other treatments. The funds that we raise will go towards accommodations, meals and transportation, as well as the treatment cost itself and any extra expenses. Her mom, Kelly Martens is planning to go down with her the first week to get her settled and help ease the transition.

Living with Shae, I can see how badly her symptoms have progressed. What started as chronic fatigue like symptoms and dizziness at work, has progressed to be a very extensive and worrying list. Shae's most noticeable symptoms are affecting her cognitive functions greatly. On almost a daily basis she is slurring her words or stuttering when talking. She has difficulty finding the correct name for objects, for example mixing up "elephant" with "banana" on several occasions and sometimes doesn't realize she's said the wrong thing. She has other mental confusion and forgetfulness in her day-to-day life and finds it difficult to concentrate on conversations and reading. Shae has always been such a positive, loving, happy person and while that is still the case you can tell she has increased negative mood swings, irritability, troubles with emotional regulation, increased anxiety and depression and often very short patience which has recently started to affect her day-to-day life as a parent and partner and has made even the smallest things more overwhelming for her. Her overall personality has changed from this disease.

Aside from cognitive symptoms she has an extensive list of physical symptoms. Shae is nauseous, dizzy and has headaches everyday, some days leading to vomiting. She gets frequent sinus and throat infections due to a broken down immune system. Shae has chest pain and troubles catching her breath even when she hasn't done anything physical. All of her joints and muscles are affected by extreme pain that pain killers do not help including pain in her face and jaw. She also gets random spasms, tingling and numbness throughout her body and can't regulate her body temperature. She has had to get prescription eye glasses and sunglasses because of blurred vision and sensitivity to light after having perfect 20/20 vision her whole life. She also has sensitivity to sounds and touch and frequent ringing in her ears, as well as a feeling of a bug being in her ear constantly. As someone that has never had allergies in her life she is also experiencing painful rashes that make her hands swell and her skin crack and bleed. Then there is the exhaustion, she experiences exhaustion and extreme fatigue in just about everything she does, leaving the house takes it out of her most days.

Shae has good days, just as she has bad days, and I see how frustrating it is for her that people on the outside looking in think she’s fine when at home I get to see this sickness and pain behind the tough front she puts on in public. Lymes is such a misunderstood disease, and we truly hope one day there will be information and understanding out there. Our family is very worried about our Shae, and we want to do anything possible to get her the help she needs. Shaelynn has a hard time asking for help and being vulnerable in her story, but now more than ever she sees how crucial it is to be able to ask our friends, family, community and even strangers for help. If you are able, please consider donating to help us and please share the link so we can reach as many people as possible.

We appreciate you taking the time to read our story and we thank you for your generosity.