Success!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday's opening event of "Under Our Skin" was a complete success. Early reports suggest about 275 people attended. The panel went well - it was succinct and informative. People said that was the best part of the afternoon. I wish we could have answered everybody's questions, so one thing I am going to do later this week (hopefully) is to publish answers to a few of those questions (or, if I do not have the answer, ask someone else to answer them). In addition, I will also post some pictures and provide the link to the slide show.

By far, the best thing the event did was to connect Lyme sufferers together. There was the couple from Grants Pass, Oregon, who mentioned they had never been around so many Lyme people before. They mentioned they have been in treatment limbo ever since their Lyme doctor retired.

Then there was the young man who is grappling with his inability to provide for himself. He looked so tired and hopeless. I just wanted to give him a big hug.

And then there was the young woman who was wrestling with how she was supposed to pay for any of the treatment.

"Is there a foundation that helps people out financially?" she asked.

"If there was, it would be tapped out by now," I said.

Finally, there was the woman who attended on behalf of her cousin who has Lyme. The woman began to cry as she told me how devastating it was to watch her family member lose her job and spend her days on the couch. That's the kind of love I like to see.

So many people and so many stories of pain, suffering, hopelessness, confusion, despair. Yet, when we share and collaborate and exchange stories - when we show up to events like these - these stories start to become full of hope and possibility, too. This is the beginning of something new.

A.