Before I begin, let me start by saying that I am in no way at all embarrassed or ashamed of the fact that I LOVE the Twilight saga. It began two years ago on a trip with some family friends. I had finished the book I was reading, and with nothing left to choose from, was handed the book ‘Twilight’. Immediately I began criticizing the way the book was written, thinking to myself how I could never finish the book, let alone all 4 books of the saga, until I realized I was halfway through the first book and completely and totally sucked into the story. Call me old fashioned, but I’m a sucker for a traditional vampire/human love story.
Needless to say I read all the books, bought the Twilight movie when it came out and watched it many times. I have been anticipating the release of the second movie of the saga, New Moon, for quite a few weeks. Again I remind you all (and mostly myself) that I am not ashamed of this. I pictured myself in line at 12:01 on Saturday morning, the day of the release…me and about 250 twelve year old girls all wanting our very own copy of New Moon.
That being said I can go on with my article for today, and something that I think is so very important. While I tend to joke and make laughs out of every day serious situations (including Lyme) in order to try and make some of the bad stuff seem not so bad, but tonight I joke, but the topic I talk about is not at all a joke.
Unless this is your first time reading my website, or the first time ever hearing about me or knowing me through facebook or Twitter, then you know that I have recently been involved with an awareness campaign called ‘Paint May Lyme Green’. Since becoming ill last year, and then learning all the pitfalls that a Lyme patient encounters, I began to get involved, or at least WANTING to get involved. As my treatment works on the diseases that have caused such havoc in my body, and I slowly gain strength back little by little, I am able to be more involved in getting the word out there. The word is Lyme. A 4 letter word many people are not willing to say. Or when they hear it said, immediately turn the other way to avoid it altogether. I can’t ignore it, because it runs my life. Literally runs every aspect of my life. As I’ve fought this fight for over 10 months now, and am now living at home in order to pay for treatment, it is now beginning to run the lives of my mother and family. My friends are now living it on a daily basis as they support me in my own journey. It’s a 4 letter word I feel I have no choice but to say.
So when Ashley from Lymenaide asked me to join her and others in this awareness campaign for May I gladly jumped on board with the others from New York who were working on this. It was wonderful having someone already organizing so much of this, as my cognitive dysfunction caused by the Lyme would make me think of great ideas, but the roadblock was in execution and where to begin. Having a group of people already working on it, and joining them to work together helped me be able to be a part of the awareness campaign even with the brain fog and such issues that I still experience.
Part of this wonderful campaign, and I’ve talked about this before, is putting together a Public Service Announcement (PSA) about Lyme disease. In order to make this a reality, Ashley and those joining her in the project need to raise $5,000 for the production of the PSA. Today Lymenaide announced that they had passed the $1,000 mark. In order for us to meet the deadline for production to get this aired for May 1st to kick off Lyme Awareness Month, we need to raise a lot more money, and do it quickly.
Then I thought about the fact I haven’t donated anything yet. I myself am in quite a pickle when it comes down to it financially. With the lack of insurance covering much, if any, of my treatment and doctor visits, every penny is pretty important. While my co-workers and friends have had a benefit and fundraisers for me, I wonder to myself how I can donate money to such a worthy cause when I’m trying to make sure I have the $900 necessary to pay for the next 4 weeks of medicine.
That got me thinking about how many wonderful causes there are, and people who need help in paying for treatment, benefits that are held for Lyme disease patients and their families, and how much I’d love to donate to them all, but the reality is I just can’t when I am trying to pay for my own treatment without bankrupting my entire family. So I understand the difficult position many Lyme patients are in when faced with being asked to donate to any good cause, even if it’s going towards something that will ultimately be of benefit to you in the long run.
I feel this way about the donations for the PSA for May’s Lyme awareness. Yes, I need money myself to pay for my own treatment, so that I as an individual can get better. But with better Lyme awareness any time in the past 20-30 years, I may have known I had Lyme disease before it got so bad that I could no longer work. I know there are hundreds and thousands of others across the country right now in the same boat I was in a year or two ago. A lot of problems, but no answers. When I got sick and learned how devastating Lyme can really be, I was amazed that I could have lived in such ignorance for so long. So the awareness is imperative to others in order to save their health, to get treatment before it’s too late to have a full recovery. That is why this cause is SO extremely important right now. Beyond that, the more awareness we raise about this devastating disease, as well as the controversy surrounding it, the closer we as the Lyme disease community will get to having proper legislation to protect us financially and medically.
So while every Lyme patient struggles financially, I think this is a cause we can’t say no to, because the repurcussions of it will have a long lasting effect on many of our own, as well as our loved ones lives.
And for those who do not have Lyme disease, you have an even better reason to donate. Because you’re seeing what this can do to a life. You are seeing what it has done to my life. You have become aware, and now know how bad Lyme disease can be. Now that message needs to be passed on to your loved ones so that they become aware and can stop themselves from becoming as sick as so many of us are. So please, donate whatever you can, but help us get to our needed goal of $5,000 to get this PSA out there for everyone to see.
Now back to my love of the Twilight saga. (Eventually I was gonna bring it back around full circle, you just had to stick with me a bit.) A few months ago, after paying what needed to be paid I had $28 left over one week. I put that money aside, knowing that in a short while New Moon would be coming out and I would be able to use that money to buy my long awaited second installment of the story of my (no longer) secret obsession.
So in good faith to all those other Lyme patients (or anyone else) who is suffering financially, and worrying how they are going to take care of themselves, let alone help another cause, I am donating the $28 I had planned on using to buy my silly DVD, because as much as I may enjoy a movie, nothing would make me happier than to have gotten one step closer to stopping someone from experiencing what I have had to experience in the past year.
So I ask you now to go to the following website and make a donation. http://lymenaide.wordpress.com/paint-may-lyme-green/psa-donations/ For those of you on facebook, you can also donate through ‘Facebook Causes’ by going to this link. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/457717/18077474
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and your support of this project with whatever donation is possible. It means so much to myself, as well as the many other Lyme victims out there who need your help to give us a voice.