Help Tiffany Cole get treatment for Lyme Disease

Tiffany Cole is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello to my lovely friends, family and strangers around the world.

Many of you know me as an artist and muse but for many years I have been privately struggling with medical issues that have ravaged my life at times and have cost me 10s of thousands of dollars.

10 years ago I was bed-bound, having panic attacks and got close to 100 pounds at 5 feet 11. I would make frequent trips to the ER not knowing what was happening to my body and they could give me no real help or answers. I couldn't work or function or be by myself and after months of that, I moved to live with my godmother who gave me counseling, and a trip that was supposed to last a few weeks turned into a year and a half of healing. Throughout this period I never received a diagnosis. Even as I got a bit stronger after a year plus I would still find myself running to the bathroom at social get-togethers feeling like I was going to pass out or having horrible digestive troubles. I tried to hide what I was going through. The normal medical system had no answers for me and I didn't have the money to keep going to alternative doctors.

After this long stay with my godmother, I found art and it truly saved me. It gave me such a strong purpose in life and for years, despite bouts of odd symptoms I was able to pour everything into my creations and create a full-time career as an artist and muse to artists all over the world. My life became so full and beautiful. I truly felt the worst was behind me.

Sadly in June 2021 all my worst symptoms came rushing back and I was once again bed bound for months. I remember waking up one day and telling my partner I truly felt I would die that day, my body felt 90 years old and no one seemed to know what was going on. After several ER visits and many blood tests by the NHS in London all they could determine was that my immune system (white blood cells) were half of normal and going down each time they would retest. The solution was just to keep retesting. I was told nothing could be done about it.

After years of wrong diagnoses, treatments, hundreds of supplements, testing, MRIs, colonoscopies and the like I felt hopeless. I looked online and found a private practice that dealt with difficult to diagnose cases and put thousands towards more testing. During that time I found the story of Alex Wisner, an artist I had known in Los Angeles who documented brilliantly her fight with Lyme and how she received the diagnosis after it nearly took her life. I felt like I was reading my story. I then received the gold standard of medical tests for Lyme and co-infections and my blood test came back positive for 3 Lyme infections: Babesia, Bartonella and Borrelia. I was sent photos of my blood under a microscope showing the infection in all stages throughout my blood cells. My doctor assured me my symptoms were a match. Lyme and it’s co-infections are so misunderstood and usually completely ignored by traditional medicine so its treatments are not covered by insurance.

After recently suffering a miscarriage I reached my breaking point and knew I could no longer live like this and pushed everything aside. The treatments for Lyme are very expensive along with the numerous tests needed to see how much the infection has affected and damaged one's body. It is incredibly hard for me to ask for help and to truly accept the reality of this situation but I now know that getting proper care is so important and can be life-altering. I know I can do something about this once and for all.

I am now in the US and starting my testing and treatment with one of the best specialists who gets results, he told me within a few months, if we go at it hard, I could get this all cleared up but I need the funds to begin.

Art is my life and I will continue to create and help others create beauty in this world. I cannot tell you the struggle it has been to create through all of this. My body is my tool as a muse and as an artist and it's time for me to get it healthy.

I am so excited to tackle this illness and not just to get back to my old self but to fully thrive newly, and create art for many many years to come.