May is Lyme Awareness Month--a month dedicated to educating the public on all facets of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. We thank all of the patients, advocates, and Lyme organizations for their dedication in helping to spread the word and save lives. Here at LymeBrave Foundation, we're taking an unfiltered look at what it's like living with this chronic illness by opening up our journals and sharing the highs and lows of life with Lyme. Join us for our 2018 awareness campaign by helping to #shareyourstory. Contact us to find out how!
Editor's Note: The following was originally posted on Cassidy's personal blog, dated October 2016. Check out her profile below to learn more of her Lyme disease story.
Dear Lyme,
We’ve been together for over six years now and there are some things I’d like to say to you.
First, I’d like to thank you for taking my life and turning it completely upside down. Thank you for taking away my adolescence and making me grow up way ahead of schedule. Thank you for making me quit my sports, school, and many other activities because you get to dictate my life. I was put up against the harshness of politics, medicine, and money before I’ve even had to face my first college exams because of you. Thank you for giving me no control over my body--giving me the shakes, taking my breath away, giving me nausea, and refusing to let me rest. You’ve made me come face to face with the fact that my life won’t turn out like the fairytale I’d dreamed up, and I now know that that’s the real world. But sometimes, I wish you weren’t so generous.
Thank you for making it easy for me to tell who truly cares about me and who doesn’t. You also introduced me to my best friends and my “Lymie” family, and without you I would have never met them. You’ve showed me how strong I am, and for that I actually am grateful. You’ve taken my life and turned it upside down, sideways, diagonal, in every way imaginable. We met when I was fourteen. Who knows, we may have crossed paths years before that.
I’ve come to the realization that we will be together for the rest of my life, but I will no longer let you control me.
Sincerely,
Cassidy Colbert
- - - Will you show the world you're LymeBrave and join us for our Lyme Awareness Month campaign? Contact us at info@lymebravefoundation.org to find out how you can help#shareyourstory!
Cassidy Colbert has been battling chronic Lyme disease for over six years. She now dedicates her time to advocating so no one else feels the burden of this horrible disease. Want to know more about Cassidy? Find her on social media!
Instagram: Lyssaandlymie Youtube: Lyssaandlymie Twitter: CassidyMaree30 Blog: thelymediary.wordpress.com