Our Fight Against Lyme Disease and Awareness

I would like to start by saying thank you for taking the time to read this. Roughly a month ago, after two months of realizing something was wrong, my wife Brianna, was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. This diagnosis came on the heels of the most difficult and financially straining year of our lives. In the past, if money got tight the answer was simply to work harder. I’m not one to ask anyone for help and if I do it’s never easy. In fact, doing this goes against what Ive always strived for. Sometimes however, even when we do everything we’re supposed to, life has other plans. I have done everything I can to do this on my own. Spent our savings and sold most of my possessions that had any value. We have been forced to take out loans just to keep the bills paid and pay for Brianna's treatment.  

The cost for Lyme disease specialists in our area range from $300-$700 per visit, not including blood tests, medications and other necessities. Unfortunately, no matter what insurance you have, they do not pay for Lyme Disease treatment beyond the initial diagnosis and antibiotic treatment. Normally, I would have enough money saved to cover a situation such as this but like I mentioned earlier, 2018 brought more than one emergency situation and has severely stressed our finances.

 I will say up front that I plan on earning your help by making a full out effort to raise awareness for Lyme Disease. In August of 2019, I am going to make an attempt to break the standing record to hike all 46 High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains of NYS. This will be a soul crushing effort, with nearly 150 miles and 68,000 feet in elevation change to overcome in less than 3 days and 17 hours. The sole purpose of this is to earn your help for Brianna's treatments.  In return I will do my part to raise awareness for Lyme Disease and hopefully this effort will help to inspire anyone dealing with difficulty in life. In short, your efforts will help not only us but the hundreds of thousands of people diagnosed and battling Lyme Disease every year. You can follow and further support this effort by following "Quest 46" on both Facebook and Instagram. 

I would like to take a moment to explain our situation, not to validate excuses, but rather to offer perspective on why I’m asking for your help. The following events all occurred within a 6 month time frame:

Earlier this year, my grandfather was admitted to the hospital with a life threatening condition that required emergency surgery. The stress of this event, ended up putting my grandmother in the hospital at the same time. One of my pops life wishes, was to see his grandson get married. My at the time fiancé and I, decided that we would push our wedding from the next year, to the next week in order to make sure this wish was granted. This was of course our first major financial obstacle, costing a few thousand dollars, all spent within a weeks time. 

After getting married and due to my grandparents condition, my wife and I packed up everything we owned and moved into their house to take care of them for as long as it took. This was also surprisingly expensive due to the costs of moving, and preparing the house for two more adults and a child. 

Not long after this, we watched the home that my grandfather built with his bare hands, the home that I grew up in during my early years, burn to the ground. We started to wonder what we did wrong for life to hit so hard in a short time. 

A month later, my 15 year old dog who was by my side his entire life, succumbed to his age. This was a deep pain that I have never experienced before and although the financial costs for this don't compare to everything else that has happened, it further knocked the wind out of our sails. 

A short time later, my truck and main source of transportation broke down beyond repair. The truck is not paid off and currently sitting unused while I continue to make payments and pay insurance on it. For this reason I had to buy another vehicle. To get something safe and reliable for my family and I, we spent roughly $5,000 on a used car. Since writing this post a few days ago, this vehicle also broke down. 

It was at this point that financially speaking, things started to look pretty grim. I still had some money left, but if any other emergency situations arose, it would start getting ugly. 

Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened when Brianna was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. 

At first it was headaches and minor muscle/joint pain. We chalked it up to stress since it would come and go. However, as time pressed on these symptoms got worse. She had also developed a reoccurring low grade fever, severe fatigue and eventually heart palpitations. This led us to making a doctors appointment the next day. 

After everything, she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. At first we didn’t think much of it, until we did hours and hours worth of research. We quickly realized how serious this is and how bad it could get. As her treatment went forward, her symptoms got much more intense. To the point she would sleep 15 hours a day, only to wake up and feel like she hadn’t slept at all. She deals with fevers, pain throughout her body and extreme fatigue every single day. 

This made it very difficult to want to even get out of bed. Due to our situation after previous financial burdens this year, she would not accept not going to work. We are nearing the end of her treatment, and unfortunately she still has all of the symptoms which means even more doctors and medications. 

In conclusion, I’d like to say thank you to everyone who decides to help. Thank you for the calls and messages from friends, family and people I’ve never met to offer support for my wife during this time. I appreciate you taking your time to read through all of this and any support we receive will be greatly appreciated.