TOUCHED BY LYME: New source of financial aid for Lyme patients
Back in 2011, a young Florida woman named Wendy Phillips traveled to Vermont with her now-husband to attend a wedding. At one point, they walked through fields and woods with the family dog. Afterwards, they were both covered with what looked like flecks of dirt.
Alas, it wasn't dirt. The tiny specks were ticks—lots of them.
For Wendy, that unfortunate incident set in motion a cascade of weird physical symptoms that ebbed and flowed over the years. At various times, she experienced memory problems, stomach aches, headaches, heart palpitations, neuropathy and seizures, to name a few.
She saw many doctors, who assured her it couldn't possibly be Lyme disease. (But they had no useful alternative diagnosis to propose.) Eventually, an ILADS-trained doctor diagnosed her with Lyme and Bartonella, and started treatment.
As her health improved with treatment, she reports, life threw another curve ball. Up until that point, her husband had seemed perfectly fine. Then, one day, he woke up in the morning and could not walk. He was subsequently diagnosed with three tick-borne infections: Lyme disease, Bartonella and Ehrlichia.
Throughout this process, Wendy says, they were shocked to discover how much Lyme patients had to pay out of pocket for appropriate treatment. And how so many people had no way to pay for the medical care they needed. She vowed to do something about it.
Fast forward to August 2019. The organization Wendy founded, the Lyme Treatment Foundation, is now accepting applications for treatment grants. Patients can receive up to $4000 towards treatment with a Lyme-literate doctor. There are no age restrictions.
The deadline for the first round of grants is September 6. Click here for details.
Other sources of financial assistance for Lyme patients
After a short hiatus, the LymeTAP program (test access program) is once again accepting applications. This program helps pay for Lyme diagnostic testing. No age restrictions.
The LymeLight Foundation provides treatment grants for young people, through age 25. Applications for the next round of grants are due August 23, 2019.
LivLyme Foundation provides treatment grants for those under age 21.
LymeAid 4 Kids provides up to $1000 for treatment of those under age 21.
Ticked Off Foundation provides grants and counseling to Lyme patients in crisis. Age 26 and above.
TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org's Director of Communications. She is co-author of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent's Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.