Welcome to my blog! This is a place of information and hope for fellow Canadians who are suffering from Lyme disease. I want to share with you the knowledge I have gained during my fight with this debilitating, frightening, and misunderstood illness. I hope you will be blessed.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!


It is my prayer that all of you who celebrate Christmas will have an enjoyable time with family and friends and be able to leave your troubles behind if even for a short time.  It is so important for us to connect with people.  Let us not allow our chronic illness to define us or rob us of the good things that this life has to offer.  Sure, we may not be able to do everything we would like, but let us find pleasure in the small things, and in the things we are still able to do.  Let us have hope as we begin 2015....for our personal situation, and for the greater Lyme issue.  We have seen some major developments in 2014 with the passing of Bill C-442 in Canada to create a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease, and with the passing of the bill in New York State protecting physicians who treat Lyme.  Change is slow, but it IS happening.  Hope is in the air!

On that note, I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!  God bless!

Friday, December 12, 2014

Oh Happy Day!!! The Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act Becomes Law!

This is the day we have been waiting for for 2 1/2 years!  Today, Elizabeth May's Bill C-442 passed third reading in the Senate and will become law!  Whoooo hoooo!  Check out the news release.



 
 
Elizabeth May has worked tirelessly to ensure the passage of the Federal Framework on Lyme Disease Act.  We are indebted to her!  She and many, many MPs recognized the need for this law due to the spread and threat of Lyme disease in Canada.  The fact that the law was supported unanimously in both the House of Commons and the Senate shows how hard all Lyme activists worked to educate their local representatives by sharing their stories, circulating petitions, writing to newspapers, emailing their MPs, and the list goes on.  Anyone who has done even the smallest thing can claim a part of this great victory!
 
Now that said, I am not so naive to think that things are going to change overnight.  Lyme treatment is divisive in the medical community.  Canadian infectious disease doctors, for example, are opposed to some of the wording in this law and still wish to adhere to the flawed IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America) standards of treatment.  Although they will be in the minority when everyone gathers at the table, they still pose a threat with the roadblocks they will put up.  I do believe that the process of creating a strategy for dealing with Lyme in Canada will be a slow one and a bit of a battle.  It may be several years before Lyme patients will really benefit from this law.  
 
This notwithstanding, some hope has now been injected into a situation that was, up until now, pretty hopeless.  For the time being, we may still have to seek help from U.S. physicians and pay for treatment out-of-pocket, but at least there is a light at the end of this long tunnel. 
 
Thank you, Elizabeth May!
 
If you want to watch the second reading of the bill in the Senate, click here.  It's very interesting!
 

Saturday, December 06, 2014

Lyme News

Thank you to a reader of mine who brought this article to my attention.  Please have a read.  It is a much better depiction of the Lyme situation in Canada.

I am so pleased to learn that "a private member’s motion was passed with all-party consent in the legislature Nov. 27 calling for Ontario to develop an integrated strategy on Lyme disease, to be tabled within one year." (Article:  Lyme Warning No Surprise to Sufferers, www.yorkregion.com)

A similar proposal at the federal level, Bill C-442 introduced by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, has a bit of a fight on its hands.  Although it has passed all three readings in the House of Commons, there is some opposition by a group of infectious disease doctors.  See this link for all of the information.

OK, so this is going to be an uphill battle, but how great that the Lyme issue is finally getting the attention of people who can actually help to provide real solutions.  I'm sure that in my lifetime, there will be major developments and people will no longer be left to suffer with this devastating illness.

Keep praying!