<div>Dearest Friends &amp; Community,
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<div>My beautiful wife Ruth has been bravely living with late-stage neurological Lyme disease for over six years. Unfortunately, the NHS does not provide treatment for late-stage Lyme, which means we are covering all medical costs ourselves. Every donation will help Ruth access comprehensive care and the essential treatment she needs to stop her condition from worsening further and give her a chance of long-term remission and healing.
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<div><strong>Late Stage Lyme Neuroborreliosis - </strong>
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<div>Although often invisible to most, my brave and beautiful wife Ruth has been courageously battling late-stage disseminated neurological Lyme disease for 6.5 years.
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<div>The Lyme bacteria and its co-infections have spread throughout her body, affecting multiple organs and causing serious symptoms: numerous neurological complications, immune dysfunction, relentless musculoskeletal, joint, and connective tissue pain, and debilitating cardiovascular issues.
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<div>This stage of Lyme is extremely complex to treat, and the NHS offers no treatment options. Ruth and I have now reached a point where we urgently need financial support to continue her treatment and give her the best chance for long-term remission.
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<div>✨<strong>About Ruth</strong>
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<div>Ruth has always lived to care for others. Her compassion, warmth, and patience have touched countless lives. From her teens, she supported refugees, patients with life-limiting illnesses, the elderly, and the physically disabled.
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<div>Later, Ruth became a specialist oncology social worker, supporting children and teenagers with cancer and their families at The Royal Marsden and Great Ormond Street Hospital. She went to great lengths to comfort and empower everyone she worked with.
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<div>Nine years ago, we left London and moved with our beloved 5-year-old son to Totnes.
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<div>In 2017, we founded our speciality coffee shop, The Hairy Barista, born from our shared love of coffee, people, and community. The HB quickly became more than a coffee shop; it grew into a place where everyone felt welcome, seen, and held, a warm hub for connection and belonging. Later, Ruth created ADAMA, a conscious event space for music and heart-centered gatherings, a place for healing, connection, and celebration.
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<div>Ruth’s vision has always been about nurturing mind, body, and spirit. Her vibrant energy brings our coffee shop to life, filling it with love &amp; light.
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<div>If you’ve met Ruth, as a social worker, friend, or colleague, you know her as loyal, authentic, and deeply caring. She is my rock, and life at our coffee shop feels incomplete without her energy, love, and presence.
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<div>✨<strong>Ruth’s Struggle</strong>
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<div>For more than six years, Ruth’s life has been dominated by the challenges of living with late-stage Lyme.
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<div>It has often been a terrifying and exhausting journey, with countless hospital visits and many sleepless nights that too often ended with an ambulance outside our home.
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<div>During frequent flare-ups, she struggles with disabling symptoms, often bedridden, unable to climb stairs, shower, or complete basic daily tasks. There are cycles of temporary improvement, often followed by flare-ups affecting different organs or systems. Periods of partial relief have lasted at most a month, while the shortest interval without symptoms is often too brief, a constant reminder of how fragile and complex this illness can be.
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<div>Co-existing conditions, including lupus, a blood clotting disorder, and MCAS, make treatment even harder. Yet despite everything, Ruth remains hopeful, resilient, and determined to heal.
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<div><strong>✨Treatment Options</strong>
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<div>Sadly, the NHS offers no treatment for late-stage Lyme, and private insurance does not cover it, leaving people like Ruth without access to essential medical care. Treatment is therefore prohibitively expensive.
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<div>After trying several ineffective or incomplete protocols, Ruth’s only remaining hope is a comprehensive, multi-system, multi-disciplinary approach with a personalized and tailored treatment plan.
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<div>The foundation of the plan will include:
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<div>•	Medical Herbalists &amp; Functional drs,
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<div>including, comprehensive &amp; integrative treatment with two Lyme-literate specialist clinics:
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<div>1. UK MCAS Specialist functional doctor &amp; medical hospital  consultant. 
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<div>2.	Dr. Bill Rawls . US 
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<div>3.	Napiers CLAID Clinic . Scotland
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<div>4. Specialist medical care for the management of cardiovascular, haematology &amp; lupus issues.
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<div>5. The London Resilience Clinic-for MCAS 
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<div>This plan will give Ruth the supportive care she urgently needs and the best chance of remission, preventing future flare-ups and promoting long-term healing.
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<div><strong>✨How Donations Will Be Used</strong>
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<div>Every donation will go directly towards Ruth’s medical care, including:
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<div>•	Specialist Lyme-literate doctors &amp; medical herbalists, consultations, diagnostics, and ongoing treatment and support plans
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<div>•	Multi-disciplinary medical care, access to functional medicine specialists, holistic pain management, and medical herbalist antimicrobial therapy
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<div>•	Potential treatment in the US, including travel, accommodation, and medical fees for therapies unavailable in the UK
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<div>•	Supportive care for co-existing conditions, management of lupus, MCAS, cardiovascular issues, and other complications related to late-stage Lyme
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<div>•	Long-term healing and remission planning, treatments and therapies aimed at preventing future flare-ups and restoring quality of life
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<div>All funds will go directly to Ruth’s treatment, ensuring she has the best chance to heal, regain her strength, and live without constant pain.
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<div><strong>✨How You Can Help</strong>
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<div>For over six years, Ruth and I have dedicated all of our personal income to her care. Unfortunately, we now urgently need additional financial support so Ruth can begin this essential next phase of treatment.
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<div>Every donation, no matter the size, will go directly towards Ruth’s medical care. Any remaining funds will be donated to her chosen Lyme disease charities.
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<div>If you are unable to donate right now, there are other meaningful ways to support us:
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<div>•	✨ Sharing Ruth’s story
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<div>•	✨ Sending messages of encouragement
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<div>•	✨ Holding Ruth in your thoughts or prayers
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<div>•	✨ Supporting our local spaces, The Hairy Barista and ADAMA, the heart of our community vision
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<div>✨<strong>And Lastly</strong>
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<div>Ruth and I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read Ruth’s story and for sharing it.
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<div>Your kindness, generosity, and support remind us that we are not walking this path alone, enabling Ruth to carry on her journey with hope, dignity, and community.
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<div>With love and deep gratitude,
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<div>Roee &amp; Ruth
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Despina Karaeleftheriou

Hannah Ormsby

Sarah Weeks

Anonymous

Anna Gardner

Christine Eckersley

Tamara Pekelman

Emily Hutchings

Chris Whatmore

Matthew Newsome

Eleanor Franklin

Verity Newman

Daniel Grinstein

Help Ruth Heal From Neurological Lyme Disease

Help Ruth Heal From Neurological Lyme Disease

Still £2,850 to go. Help us build momentum.