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Life Changing Lyme Treatment Needed

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I'm Karli, a 30 year old stay at home mom to two amazing little boys.  I'm married to Lonny, a hard working, super supportive husband.
Almost a year and a half ago, after the birth of our second child, Presley, I noticed something was very wrong with my back. I was in pain 24/7 and had no idea why. I went to my doctor, who wasn't entirely sure what could be causing it but suggested starting physio, chiro and going on addictive pain medication. I did this for months and my symptoms only got worse instead of better. I went back to my doctor and asked if there was anything else we could do. He suggested keeping up with what I was doing and told me to make sure to take the pills I didn't want to take while taking care of my children. The pills made me feel out of it, but still in pain. One time i passed out after taking one pill, with both kids in my care.  Needless to say, i don't take them anymore... I left the clinic in tears that day.  The pain got so bad that I would end up in bed waiting for my husband to get home from work almost every day so he could take over looking after our boys. There were many nights I would lay in bed crying from the amount of pain I was in, begging my husband to let me take everything I had stashed in my bedside table. Of course, he did his best to make sure that didn't happen. I went back to my doctor numerous times, finally getting him to agree to an MRI. While waiting for my referral to go thru, I went to physio, acupuncture, chiro, massage, even a neuro surgeon and physiatrist... all numerous times. Three separate ER trips in between, all with no relief and no answer. My first MRI results came in saying there was a spot of concern on my spine, and I was called back for a second. I felt a bizarre sense of relief thinking maybe an answer was around the corner. No matter what it was, I felt like as long as the cause was found, it was progress and something to embrace.  I was wrong. The first MRI showed something, but the second didn't. So, the unrelenting, painful mystery remained. What was going on with my back that could be totally disrupting our lives? How do I fix this? How much longer could I live like this? Those questions plagued me and my husband for over a year. Doctors were not taking my pain seriously and my depression worsened. Then, a friend told me about Lyme disease and that so many of my symptoms matched up. She told me I would most likely be met with skepticism from doctors as Lyme isn't well recognized yet in the medical community.  So, with hesitation and a lot of guts I asked my doctor for a Lyme blood test. The Canadian blood test is very simple, generic and not in depth. There are many co-infections that can be involved with Lyme, and the Canadian test doesn't look for any of them. So, like almost everyone else who ends up actually having Lyme, I tested negative on the Canadian test. In order to get a complete Lyme test, I would need to get my blood drawn here and send it off to a lab in California called Igenex. These tests cost money.  Money our family doesn't have. We have been contemplating asking for help for over half a year... but the time needs to be now. My symptoms remain, and are now progressing and evolving... into chronic headaches, dizziness, fatigue, tinnitus,  and more. We need to figure out what's wrong. If we can rule Lyme disease out, we can focus on other possibilities, and vice versa. We need our quality of life back.. It's been gone for far too long. Our children need their mom back, and my husband needs his wife to be healthy and happy, and able to function. Again, this isn't easy for us to ask, but we have decided to put our pride aside for now. Thanks for reading this. If donating isn't a possibility, just the acknowledgment that chronic pain is real is more than enough for us. Thank you!

Organizer

Karli Bergen
Organizer
Winnipeg, MB

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