Help Jana Win the battle with Neurological Lyme Disease

Hello! Thank you for visiting this fundraiser. My name is Adrian Malacko and I am raising money for my dear friend Jana Mitić. She is a violinist, educator and violin teacher, creative person who loves music, tennis, long walks and spending time with friends. Jana has late-stage neurological Lyme disease and co-infections. She’s had it for 7+ years - undiagnosed and disease developed slowly in the beginning but in the last two years it progressed pretty fast. She went from being energetic, hardworking, social person to housebound, because of exhaustion and fatigue that this disease caused. Lyme stopped her carrier, and Jana hasn’t been able to work or do basic every day activities because of her symptoms.

Most Lyme treatments are not covered by insurance, and so patients typically pay over $500 for frequent tests, medications, and complementary therapies. After years of such expenses, coupled with her inability to work, Jana and her mom’s financial resources are severely strained.

These treatments will help her regain her health and livelihood. They will also allow her to go back to playing music and start spreading awareness by sharing her story so that other people can prevent this illness and avoid this long and painful struggle.

Jana’s story

Jana started experiencing some of the symptoms as early as high school, but due to her chosen profession as violinist she ascribed her pains to long practicing hours and excessive physical exertion. Later during her university years, she developed much stronger pains in her back, peripheral neuropathy along with pins and needles feeling in her hands, loss of muscle strength which altogether made her unable to finish her undergraduate studies in time. She did a lot of physical therapy and B vitamin supplementation which helped a little at the time, but only to an extent. She finished her undergraduate and master studies later than her peers but she still managed to live relatively normal life.

In 2020, her symptoms have gotten a lot worse, with multiple visits to ER but still without a proper diagnosis. Neurological symptoms developed rapidly, with tachycardia, dizziness, weakness, lightheadedness, muscle twitching, strong debilitating muscle pains and persistent gut issues. Also, insomnia and memory loss caused a big problem, and finally in the summer of 2021 she got diagnosed with late stage neurological Lyme disease. By this time, Jana was bedridden, unable to do house chores, unable to walk or work on most days. Her Lyme has also reactivated Epstein - Barr virus, which has caused numerous consequences and thyroid problems. The longer a person has undiagnosed Lyme, the harder it is to treat. Lyme goes deep into cells, tissues, and mitochondria and can be destructive to every system in the body, including the heart, nervous system, and brain.

Jana needs our help. She is fighting these symptoms on a daily basis, but she is a fighter and a very optimistic and happy individual. Jana is inspired to create more music hopefully one day, to continue playing her violin and be able to run and do sports activities like she used to before. She also worked as violin teacher and wants to go back to her classes as soon as possible, because she loves teaching and sharing knowledge with her students.

Thank you for taking your time to read this, please give what you can, and know that your help is much appreciated.

All of the donations will be given to Jana Mitić.