When it comes to understanding the impact that Lyme Disease has on the lives of individuals and families, there’s no better source of reference than going straight to the proverbial horse’s mouth. That’s why in October of 2014, we launched “The Big Green Heart Tour” – a campaign to bring awareness to the eight hundred and twenty-two people diagnosed with Lyme Disease every single day.
In thirty days we traveled over 10,000 miles and interviewed more than seventy Lyme Fighters in over twenty states. And that was just our first trip! We hope to do many more. In fact, our goal is to show people the impact that one single day has on the lives of eight hundred and twenty-two people, which is why we’re going to keep planning trips until we’ve met and interviewed eight hundred and twenty-two Lyme Fighters.
Check out the gallery below to learn about the Lyme Fighters we’ve met so far (more pictures coming soon!)and subscribe to our YouTube channel to be the first to know when we’ve started posting the interviews (coming May 2015).
Joe and Betty
October 21, 2014: En route to Richmond, Virginia we pit-stopped in Amherst to visit with the lovely Betty and Joe, a wonderful last minute addition to our journey. Incredibly welcoming, these two shared stories of their adventurous life together from living in Saudi Arabia to their former square-dancing days. Once an active woman, Betty's athletic life (she was a PE teacher and played softball into her 50s) was derailed when she fell ill in 1994 with debilitating symptoms- pain, fatigue, dizziness... It wasn't until 1998 that she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and she spent the next few years seeing various LLMDs in search of adequate treatment. Fortunately, Betty's husband, Joe, has been her strongest advocate and eventually joined the National Capitol Lyme Disease Association and founded a support group in their area. The two continue to raise awareness about LymeDisease and shared their breadth of knowledge with us. It was a pleasure to meet Joe and Betty, and we hope to see them again one day soon.