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).
Renee
October 25, 2014: Lyme Warrior Renee joined us chez Sara's for a joint interview and a lovely lunch. It was such a pleasure meeting Renee who was one of the first people to donate to our GoFundMe campaign and we know her experience with Lyme will help many others. After being diagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder and struggling for years with the symptoms of both, Renee was eventually tipped off to Lyme by a therapist who recognized her symptoms which include mood swings, irritability, sensitivity to sounds, GI issues, and difficulty concentrating. After years spent treating her psychiatric disorders which interfered with her schooling and saw her taking various strong medications with few results, Renee finally started seeing improvements when she started treating for Lyme. Still, her psychiatrists refuse to acknowledge her Lyme Disease despite the fact that her symptoms have improved and she no longer requires medication for depression or bipolar disorder. Renee had such an interesting perspective to share with us due to her experiences and even talked about how some friends were more understanding of her former mental health diagnoses than they have been of Lyme. We're so happy that Renee is seeing such drastic improvements and that she was able to make it out to see us!