A tiny tick the size of a pencil tip is infecting hundreds of thousands of North Americans each year with a debilitating disease, frequently undiagnosed by doctors and ignored by victims until it’s too late.
“The doctor said, I have no idea what’s going on with you and I’m afraid it’s going to kill you,” says Ted Turnbull, a honey bee farmer and Lyme victim from Elgin MB.
Lyme disease can cause chills, muscle aches and a distinctive bullseye rash where the tick bite occurred. Untreated, Lyme can progress to debilitating headaches, joint pain, paralysis and cardiac problems.
“I couldn’t breathe,” says Brynn Mayo, struck down in her teens by Lyme and undiagnosed for several years despite worsening symptoms that left her weak, fighting for air and confined to a wheelchair.