Ted's Rally with Lyme Disease
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Hello,
My name is Jackie Bryan and I am writing this story on behalf of my husband, Ted Bryan, who is suffering from Late Stage Chronic Lyme Disease, Babesia which is a co-infection of Lyme Disease that attacks your Red Blood Cells and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Ted’s story began at age 13 when he discovered that he was bit by a tick and simply pulled it out and kept Neosporin on it. A bullseye rash did show up but eventually went away and he just forgot about it. He never got sick from being bit and quite frankly you didn’t hear much about Lyme Disease years ago.
Ted was an avid golfer playing at least two times per week, on weekends and in tournaments. He was also a very competitive fisherman and outdoorsman. He grew up extremely active and athletic playing many organized sports including Cross Country, Ice Hockey, Roller Hockey, Volleyball, Softball and never seemed to run out of energy.
He absolutely loved his job as a Journeyman Plumber working for a great company with a wonderful boss.
**THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLING THE PERFECT STORM**
On October 10, 2011 at the age of 43, Ted was at the doctor’s office getting his flu shot vaccine which in turn initiated the ultimate downward spiral for him. He was basically paralyzed for approximately a week after his shot and our family doctor called in a prescription for Steroids that helped to reduce joint swelling and allowed him to get around very slowly and carefully. However, the aches and joint pain have never gone away. Per an Expert Doctor with many years of experience and knowledge diagnosing and treating people with various Auto Immune Disorders, she acknowledged the fact that he had an existing Auto Immune Disease which was Psoriasis and had it for many years. The flu shot vaccine had activated his already dysfunctional and compromised Immune system which caused the adverse reaction from the shot.
Ted was officially diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in 2014 which are also Auto Immune Disorders that attacked his Immune system even further. This allowed dormant and controlled viruses and infections (Lyme Disease & Babesia) to come out and wreak havoc on every system in his body including Cellular, Adrenal, Hormonal, Neurological, Cognitive and Physical Function. There is not one single internal body system that it does not affect in one way or another. Your body at this point in time is no longer yours and is simply serving as a host for the disease to take over and thrive. Until you find the right doctor and treatment protocol that works for you because every individual is different, it will remain active and in control.
Ted is just one of thousands of people whose lives have been stolen from them physically, emotionally and worst of all financially.
At this time Ted is primarily housebound and able to drive short distances one or two days a week. He has no energy, stamina or strength. Being awake for four hours is a monumental task for him. Therefore, daily naps for a couple of hours are needed to keep his body from crashing which would result in him being in bed for days at a time.
We have seen many Specialists since 2011 with no concrete diagnosis until we became our own Advocate and did extensive research to find a doctor who was willing to dig deeper than you ever thought possible to find out and treat what the underlying cause is. These doctors are Functional and Integrative Medicine doctors and they don’t believe in giving you a lifetime of prescription medication to treat your symptoms. They are compassionate, caring, understanding and will perform tests on you including extensive blood work that most of us have never heard of before. These doctors can be found on ILADS website (International Lyme & Associated Disease Society).
Key is avoidance with quality tick repellant and early detection. Normally, if detected early a thirty-day course of Doxycycline will usually take care of the problem.
TREATMENT:
Ted is currently undergoing weekly treatments of Ozone Therapy and LDI (Low Dose Immunotherapy). I drive him to Philadelphia which is 200 miles round trip every Saturday for a treatment. In addition, he is on several types of supplements to help repair and build up the systems inside his body. The Ozone and LDI Therapy is to kill off the infections in his body to hopefully overtime give him some quality of life back. We don’t know that he will ever be 100% again however, a little quality of life is better than none at all so that is why we have chosen this method. It is pretty much the last type of treatment that is known to help people like him to improve and repair his body.
We have worked very hard all our lives and have never asked anyone for anything, however, financially this has taken a major toll on us. Ted has not been able to work since July 2014. Over the past six years we have easily spent $100,000 for medical care and other out of pocket expenses. We have exhausted our savings, had to cash in Ted’s 401K to cover finances and medical expenses and exhausted most resources we have. Ted’s treatments are not covered by any type of insurance plan because it is Functional/Integrative Medicine and a lot of it is considered experimental. This treatment is being used very successfully in other countries and in our country, as well. However, the “powers to be” will not approve it for use in this country and have it covered by insurance so every day people continue to suffer.
Ted and I both are very proud people and it is very hard for us to ask for help, however, we are hoping that there are enough good people out there that do care and would like to help. Anything you can do for us would be greatly appreciated. Our current cost for treatment, supplements, travel, etc. each month is roughly $2,000 which is why I set our goal at $25,000. At this cost, it will carry us for a year if we can reach this goal.
We have always been self-sufficient and the thought of asking people for help is embarrassing and makes Ted feel helpless and ashamed of what his life has become.
I will keep updates posted as often as I can to make everyone aware of how Ted is progressing. As with anything, there is no guarantee, however, Ted has had six treatments so far and even though he is nowhere near where we want him to be, he is able is get up and around more, eat dinner with me when I get home from work and do some small things around the house for me.
We will continue to meet with the doctor to monitor everything with blood work and how he feels to make sure the treatment is having an impact on repairing and rebuilding his system.
Thanking you again from our hearts!
Ted and Jackie Bryan
My name is Jackie Bryan and I am writing this story on behalf of my husband, Ted Bryan, who is suffering from Late Stage Chronic Lyme Disease, Babesia which is a co-infection of Lyme Disease that attacks your Red Blood Cells and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Ted’s story began at age 13 when he discovered that he was bit by a tick and simply pulled it out and kept Neosporin on it. A bullseye rash did show up but eventually went away and he just forgot about it. He never got sick from being bit and quite frankly you didn’t hear much about Lyme Disease years ago.
Ted was an avid golfer playing at least two times per week, on weekends and in tournaments. He was also a very competitive fisherman and outdoorsman. He grew up extremely active and athletic playing many organized sports including Cross Country, Ice Hockey, Roller Hockey, Volleyball, Softball and never seemed to run out of energy.
He absolutely loved his job as a Journeyman Plumber working for a great company with a wonderful boss.
**THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLING THE PERFECT STORM**
On October 10, 2011 at the age of 43, Ted was at the doctor’s office getting his flu shot vaccine which in turn initiated the ultimate downward spiral for him. He was basically paralyzed for approximately a week after his shot and our family doctor called in a prescription for Steroids that helped to reduce joint swelling and allowed him to get around very slowly and carefully. However, the aches and joint pain have never gone away. Per an Expert Doctor with many years of experience and knowledge diagnosing and treating people with various Auto Immune Disorders, she acknowledged the fact that he had an existing Auto Immune Disease which was Psoriasis and had it for many years. The flu shot vaccine had activated his already dysfunctional and compromised Immune system which caused the adverse reaction from the shot.
Ted was officially diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in 2014 which are also Auto Immune Disorders that attacked his Immune system even further. This allowed dormant and controlled viruses and infections (Lyme Disease & Babesia) to come out and wreak havoc on every system in his body including Cellular, Adrenal, Hormonal, Neurological, Cognitive and Physical Function. There is not one single internal body system that it does not affect in one way or another. Your body at this point in time is no longer yours and is simply serving as a host for the disease to take over and thrive. Until you find the right doctor and treatment protocol that works for you because every individual is different, it will remain active and in control.
Ted is just one of thousands of people whose lives have been stolen from them physically, emotionally and worst of all financially.
At this time Ted is primarily housebound and able to drive short distances one or two days a week. He has no energy, stamina or strength. Being awake for four hours is a monumental task for him. Therefore, daily naps for a couple of hours are needed to keep his body from crashing which would result in him being in bed for days at a time.
We have seen many Specialists since 2011 with no concrete diagnosis until we became our own Advocate and did extensive research to find a doctor who was willing to dig deeper than you ever thought possible to find out and treat what the underlying cause is. These doctors are Functional and Integrative Medicine doctors and they don’t believe in giving you a lifetime of prescription medication to treat your symptoms. They are compassionate, caring, understanding and will perform tests on you including extensive blood work that most of us have never heard of before. These doctors can be found on ILADS website (International Lyme & Associated Disease Society).
Key is avoidance with quality tick repellant and early detection. Normally, if detected early a thirty-day course of Doxycycline will usually take care of the problem.
TREATMENT:
Ted is currently undergoing weekly treatments of Ozone Therapy and LDI (Low Dose Immunotherapy). I drive him to Philadelphia which is 200 miles round trip every Saturday for a treatment. In addition, he is on several types of supplements to help repair and build up the systems inside his body. The Ozone and LDI Therapy is to kill off the infections in his body to hopefully overtime give him some quality of life back. We don’t know that he will ever be 100% again however, a little quality of life is better than none at all so that is why we have chosen this method. It is pretty much the last type of treatment that is known to help people like him to improve and repair his body.
We have worked very hard all our lives and have never asked anyone for anything, however, financially this has taken a major toll on us. Ted has not been able to work since July 2014. Over the past six years we have easily spent $100,000 for medical care and other out of pocket expenses. We have exhausted our savings, had to cash in Ted’s 401K to cover finances and medical expenses and exhausted most resources we have. Ted’s treatments are not covered by any type of insurance plan because it is Functional/Integrative Medicine and a lot of it is considered experimental. This treatment is being used very successfully in other countries and in our country, as well. However, the “powers to be” will not approve it for use in this country and have it covered by insurance so every day people continue to suffer.
Ted and I both are very proud people and it is very hard for us to ask for help, however, we are hoping that there are enough good people out there that do care and would like to help. Anything you can do for us would be greatly appreciated. Our current cost for treatment, supplements, travel, etc. each month is roughly $2,000 which is why I set our goal at $25,000. At this cost, it will carry us for a year if we can reach this goal.
We have always been self-sufficient and the thought of asking people for help is embarrassing and makes Ted feel helpless and ashamed of what his life has become.
I will keep updates posted as often as I can to make everyone aware of how Ted is progressing. As with anything, there is no guarantee, however, Ted has had six treatments so far and even though he is nowhere near where we want him to be, he is able is get up and around more, eat dinner with me when I get home from work and do some small things around the house for me.
We will continue to meet with the doctor to monitor everything with blood work and how he feels to make sure the treatment is having an impact on repairing and rebuilding his system.
Thanking you again from our hearts!
Ted and Jackie Bryan
Organizer
Jackie Bryan
Organizer
Middletown, PA
