Please help Cara get to Germany for treatment

It’s hard to believe I'm writing this. I’m extremely emotional looking back at these last two years, and I never thought I’d be asking for support like this, but anything you can give will literally save my life.

I’m Cara, 40, from Athlone in County Westmeath, and I have Lyme disease. I need to ask for your financial support to get treatment in Germany and get my life back. Before I fell ill, I worked as a secondary school teacher for 15 years, a job I really loved. In October 2019 I went on holidays to Greece and was bitten by infected mosquitoes which carried the Lyme bacteria. I had no idea what terrifying months were ahead of me.

Not many people will know this but the last two years have been a living hell for me. I’m usually a busy and happy young woman. I loved yoga, exercise, socializing and walking my dog, and went from this and working full time to becoming mostly housebound and bedridden for 8 months in total over the past two years. As a result I had to give my beautiful dog of seven years up for adoption as I couldn’t walk.

Last Christmas of 2020, I contracted Covid, and since then my Lyme symptoms have gotten progressively worse.

I’ve been on more than 20 pills a day for the past 16 months, along with herbal supplements and tinctures. Keeping my disease under control currently costs me over €1,000 per month while I’m out of work and on illness benefit.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that can, if caught within two weeks, sometimes be treated. However in my case, this didn’t happen, and I’ve gone on to develop Late Stage Chronic Lyme Disease.

Chronic Lyme Disease is not recognized by Irish healthcare providers, and therefore no public treatment available: only highly priced private care by one doctor, Dr. Jack Lambert, an infectious disease consultant in the Mater hospital. He is currently the only person in Ireland currently treating people with Chronic Lyme Disease in Ireland. I have been under his care for 16 months, taking treble and quadruple antibiotics and antimalarials, along with a range of other supplements and medicines. Unfortunately, these are not working anymore as my consultant has informed me my immune system has gotten too weak. I am left with no option but to seek treatment abroad.

Lyme disease causes extreme suffering on a daily basis. I wake up every morning feeling like I have one fifth of my normal energy, not to mention the heart palpitations, head pressure, severe shortness of breath and nerve pain that feels as if glass is scraping through my tissues. I also have migratory muscle pain, chills, memory loss and peripheral neuropathy among many other symptoms.

My only hope for recovery is to travel to a clinic in Germany, the Fachklinik for Cancer and Lyme with oncologist Dr Herzog, where I will receive three weeks of intense treatment involving Hyperthermia which is heating the body up to 42 degrees celsius. This kills the bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, that causes Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is deceptively invisible, however it is a multisystemic disease and attacks the individual both physically and mentally. I also suffer other co-infections such as Babesia, a parasite in my red blood cells which can be fatal. I live alone and it’s terrifying to feel that nobody in Ireland can help me. Many nights my symptoms get so bad that I feel like I’m dying, that there’s an internal battle raging inside me.

I want people to know how devastating this disease is, and hopefully with enough public awareness the HSE will eventually have to start treating Chronic Lyme Disease in Ireland. More urgently and personally, Germany for me represents getting my hope back. I’ve read countless stories of men and women travelling to the clinic for treatment, and getting their lives back afterwards.

I need to get there urgently in the new year as unfortunately the Lyme has reached my brain and is causing many neurological symptoms such as memory loss, cognitive and sensory issues, and nerve pain throughout my body. Sometimes I feel that my time is running out, and that sense of urgency has driven me here to look for your support.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my story. Your generosity and financial support will go towards three weeks of intense treatment, costing a total of 20,000 Euros. However, any support, even the smallest donation, will quite literally save my life.

Thank you,

Cara xxx