Kendal Sheppard-Darnell is an MTV reality TV star who has been featured on Road Rules: Campus Crawl, Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Inferno (where she won the championship), and The Challenge: All Stars (seasons 1, 2, and 3). She's also a Registered Nurse (RN) and mother of 3 beautiful children.
Kendal grew up in Washington state. She went to college in Chicago before traveling the world with MTV and then moving to Los Angeles to work as an actor.
Kendal started getting sick in her early thirties and saw scores of doctors before getting diagnosed with Lyme disease, Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) through IGeneX.
She was treated with methylene blue, BEG nasal spray, Argentyn 23 colloidal silver, antibiotics, antifungals, antiparasitics, antimalarials, and red light therapy.
Kendal is a bright shining light in the Lyme community now working as a hospice nurse and advocating for more research and awareness in the Lyme disease arena.
If you'd like to learn more about how a driven, determined, and intelligent healthcare professional has tackled Lyme disease head-on, tune in now!
PS Heather Glovack special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!
Lindsay Stay is a 38-year-old wife, mother of two, Lyme disease advocate, and entrepreneur who lives in Dunedin, Florida.
Lindsay was bit by a tick at 12 and her symptoms remained dormant until a cruise when she was 28 years old when she got sick and her body could no longer manage the Lyme bacteria.
Lindsay tried to continue on with her life as a new mom despite her symptoms, but a year later she became even sicker after a root canal when she felt like she was "slowly losing herself".
Another year later, Lindsay was rear-ended and the physical trauma was the straw that broke the camel's back resulting in Lindsay becoming completely bedbound with a wide range of Lyme symptoms including back/face/neck/foot pain, digestive issues, scattered thoughts, and "everything spinning around me".
Parasite cleansing helped Lindsay get out of bed, but she was still very sick and looking at mold and heavy metal exposure with her medical team.
Finally, she tested positive for Lyme disease and went to Sanoviv Medical Institute in Mexico where she treated her whole body with hyperthermia, antibiotics, rife, colon hydrotherapy, chiropractic care, therapy, lymphatic massages, and yoga.
Lindsay gained back most of her health, but unfortunately, she contracted covid 6 months later which caused her to have a setback.
Lindsay pulled out her holistic toolbox, tried some limbic system retraining programs, and today is using the Pompa Program to continuously improve her health.
If you'd like to learn the specific tools Lindsay has used in her Lyme journey and are looking for a story of hope, then tune in now!
PS Julia Feygelman special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!
Bari Mitzmann is a 30-year-old teacher, social media strategist, and podcaster originally from New York City, New York. She is the creator of the IBA social media course, consults with numerous businesses on social media and influencer strategy, and built a highly regarded Instagram page designed to teach about orthodox Jewish life and modest fashion.
Shortly after her engagement to be married, she began to suffer from fatigue and weight loss. Her symptoms progressed to anxiety, depression, and loss of appetite.
Shortly after the wedding, she and her husband moved to a basement apartment in tick-endemic Rockland County, New York. Her ongoing health conditions caused family and friends to believe she was anemic or pregnant until she tested positive for Lyme disease.
Initial treatment from a primary care physician exacerbated her symptoms resulting in Ms. Mitzmann’s exit from the traditional medical system. To fund the treatment from a Lyme literate medical specialist, she and her husband were forced to spend all their wedding gifts.
The final leg of her treatment journey was with an orthodox Jewish naturopathic doctor that utilized spiritual, emotional, and physical treatment modalities that suppressed her chronic symptoms permitting her to return to a normal personal and professional life.
If you would like to learn more about how an orthodox Jewish influencer had to return to her traditional roots to shlogn (Yiddish for beat) Lyme disease, then tune in now!
PS Nicoleta Forbes special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!
Becca Greenberg is a 26-year-old rhinestone artist from Florida who grew up in upstate New York.
Prior to getting sick, Becca was very social, had excellent grades, and ran 25 miles a week.
Becca was bit by a tick at the age of 9 and was likely reinfected at least once in her childhood.
At the young age of 14, Becca became wheelchair-bound and developed an array of symptoms, including fainting spells, dizziness, migraines, sudden onset confusion, slurred speech, nausea, vomiting, light and sound sensitivity, muscle pain, fatigue, left-sided paralysis, tachycardia, hearing loss, vision loss, and hallucinations.
Doctors dismissed Becca and told her she was "just going through puberty" or that it was all in her head.
Becca's mom posted on Facebook looking for answers and had a friend who was a doctor reach out and say that her symptoms were consistent with Lyme disease.
Becca got tested and was positive for Lyme, Babesia, and Bartonella.
Bercca treated with her mom's friend for 9 months on oral antibiotics, but she didn't get any better.
Next, Becca visited Dr. Daniel Cameron where she got an additional diagnosis of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and was treated with IV Rocephin and a rotation of oral antibiotics for almost 2 years.
At the end of treatment, Becca was completely symptom-free.
Becca re-entered life full force and suffered a crash, but she discusses how she skipped the recovery and maintenance faces of recovery and how she's now focusing on that part of her journey.
If you'd like to learn how a determined young woman has navigated the ups and downs of Lyme, uses her artwork to bring joy to others, and is giving back to the Lyme community, then tune in now!
PS Emma Pikoulas special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!
Aimee Noelle Packer is a 23-year-old mother and wife residing in Fairview, North Carolina. Mrs. Packer and her family gained national prominence after she posted a powerful “prayer request” video depicting her baby daughter Timberly courageously working with physical therapists to mitigate muscle tremors caused by congenital Lyme disease.
Mrs. Packer’s journey with Lyme disease began when she was bitten by a tick at the age of 7. She became chronically ill at 12 and was diagnosed with Lyme disease at 16.
After her diagnosis, Ms. Packer's parents located a Lyme-literate homeopathic doctor in Virginia who treated her by utilizing adrenal support, immune support, and drainage. The treatment was successful and she returned to full participation in high school life and activities.
After graduation, she married and was advised by doctors that her childhood disease would not impact a pregnancy “because [she] did not have an active Lyme infection”.
One year after the birth of her daughter, the Packer family home suffered a flood. The flooding resulted in mold growth triggering a recurrence of Lyme symptoms for Mrs. Packer. At the same time, Mrs. Packer noticed her baby was physically and cognitively regressing.
The post-flood events caused doctors to test the entire Packer family for Lyme disease and all three tested positive. Mrs. Packer concluded that her husband and daughter were infected by contact with her. If you would like to learn more about how the Packer family is courageously battling both congenital and sexually transmitted Lyme disease, then tune in now!
PS Ashley Marba special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!
Dr. Michael Snyder, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Stanford University Department of Genetics and the Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine.
Dr. Snyder caught the attention of the Lyme disease community when wearable technology allowed him to accurately diagnose himself with acute Lyme disease. Additionally, the data provided him with the tools he needed to persuade a skeptical doctor to test and treat him.
A long-time critic of the “sick care system”, Dr. Snyder has advocated for reform that would support health care before the onset of illness, including the use of wearable monitoring devices. A personal experience with a tick bite while helping his brother build a fence in rural Lyme-endemic Massachusetts taught him that wearables could produce a data stream that could help medical professionals diagnose and treat illnesses before the onset of symptoms.
Dr. Snyder told Tick Boot Camp that "noticing the shift in my baseline data and acting immediately on the information led to an early diagnosis, then treatment and cure."
If you would like to learn more about how inexpensive wearable watch and ring technology could be used to assist you on your Lyme healing journey, then tune in now!
PS Ali Moresco special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!
Haleigh Hekking is a 24-year-old model turned actor from Los Angeles, California, who's now become a fierce advocate in the Lyme community after her personal experience with the disease.
Prior to Lyme completely changing her life, Haleigh was very social, focused on her career, and ran 5 miles a day.
At the young age of 21, Haleigh had tingling hands and feet, shortness of breath, and fatigue resulting in a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) misdiagnosis.
Haleigh was treated with "bubble ozone" and IV colloidal silver which relieved all her symptoms.
About a year later, Haleigh just finished working on a show as a recurring character, was cast in a new movie, and then a "perfect storm" hit her causing her health to decline so much that she had to stop working.
Haleigh was bedbound and had to move back in with her parents who once again became her caregivers.
Her doctor suspected Lyme, but after an indeterminate Labcorp test and a subsequent IGeneX test resulting in a positive Lyme disease diagnosis, a positive Bartonella diagnosis, and an indeterminate Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever (TBRF) diagnosis, her doctors still wouldn't officially diagnose her with any tick-borne illness.
Haleigh finally found a doctor who properly diagnosed her and added Borrelia miyamotoi to the list of tick-borne illnesses.
She was treated with prescription antibiotics and antivirals, as well as an herbal regimen of natural antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-modulating ingredients. Unfortunately, she experienced an extreme Herxheimer reaction and after treatment, she didn't feel any better.
Haleigh then underwent a dark period where she didn't leave her room and she thought she was going to die.
After a few months, Haleigh started to reengage doctors to seek help and found a game-changer treatment.
Today, Haleigh is working with her new doctor on her next round of treatment and she's hopeful for the future.
She is using her time and energy to advocate for the Lyme community and she plans on using her platform as an actor to bring attention to tick-borne disease.
If you'd like to learn how a determined young actor who was featured in the popular movie Plane that just dropped refused to give up and is now changing the Lyme community, then tune in now!
PS Dani Tygr special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!
Dr. Susan B. Trachman, MD is a practicing psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience, an Assistant Clinical Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Clinical Associate Professor at George Washington University. Dr. Trachman is also a prolific author and a columnist at Psychology Today.
Dr. Trachman grew up in the Long Island, New York Lyme belt where a passion for law and medicine grew out of a childhood interest in “learning how things worked”. She merged her two passions by focusing her medical school training and attending physician work to become the go-to doctor for “mystery cases”.
In this comprehensive interview, the award-winning Dr. Tractman discusses with Tick Boot Camp:
How her passion for exploring medically unexplained illnesses taught her to focus on Lyme disease;
How her Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship shaped her ability to diagnose and treat the neuropsychiatric presentations of Lyme disease;
How and why the acute care medical system in the United States is ill-equipped to diagnose and treat Lyme disease and chronic illnesses in general; and
How the shortcomings of the medical system are causing frustration and trauma to doctors and patients alike.
If you would like to learn more about how the author of the soon-to-be-released book on medically unexplained symptoms is using her medical detective skill set to diagnose and treat neuropsychiatric symptoms of Lyme disease, then tune in now!
PS Dr. Christine Arseneau special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!
Ann Pennington is a blogger, model, philanthropist, and multi-pageant champion. Her pageant achievements include Mrs. USA Earth 2023, Mrs. New Jersey Earth 2022, and United States of America Mrs. 2021.
Ms. Pennington grew up a daughter of the American west and was educated in Asia. She married and moved to the eastern United States to pursue professional opportunities in New York City. She was unaware that her move to the east coast would require her to protect herself and her family from the ever-present threat of ticks and Lyme disease.
Shortly after moving, she began to suffer from migrating health symptoms. Some of her 20 symptoms encompassed multiple joint pains, brain fog, memory loss, rashes, and fatigue.
Her illness progression stole her ability to work and walk without assistance. Despite having access to scores of New York City’s top doctors and medical centers, the cause of her symptoms remained a medical mystery. One of her medical doctor specialists suggested that her extreme weight loss, hair loss, and vision loss were the function of advancing to the “age of 40”.
After winning the Mrs. New Jersey Earth crown, she suffered from a symptom flare triggering her to call her sister. After hearing the description of her suffering, her sister recommended that she request a test for Lyme disease.
At her scheduled visit with an immunologist, she tested positive for Lyme disease with the traditional two-tiered blood test.
If you would like to learn more about how Lyme inspired Mrs. USA Earth 2023 to construct and promote the “Spray Before You Play” campaign to help protect children from suffering caused by Lyme disease, then tune in now!
Tanya J Miller is a 40-year-old author, speaker, coach, strategist, and entrepreneur. She is the owner-operator of a Minority Woman’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) business.
Shortly after starting a “side hustle” passion project, she began to suffer from “major pain”. She initially believed the pain was related to a previously diagnosed chronic illness but quickly discovered “that it was something else”.
Her symptoms forced her to visit between 10 and 12 doctors, all of whom struggled to locate the cause of her cognitive issues, seizures, and “legs going out without notification”. The first hint of a diagnosis came from her chiropractor who noted that her symptoms were similar to a “teen patient that was diagnosed with Lyme disease”.
Following the chiropractor’s advice, she returned to a medical doctor to demand to be tested for Lyme disease. The initial and follow-up blood testing confirmed she was positive for stage 3 chronic Lyme disease.
The treatment that followed helped Ms. Miller to discover her purpose, faith, and resourcefulness. If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease taught a business professional that her God-given purpose was to represent others suffering from chronic Lyme, then tune in now!
PS Tiara Smith special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!