Hayden Crook is a 28-year-old youth pastor from Bend, Oregon. He graduated from the elite University of Oregon with a bachelor’s degree majoring in Psychology and Business.

After college, Pastor Crook was appointed Youth Pastor for one of the largest churches in the State of Oregon. In this capacity, he supervised youth mission trips, including a mission to cut firewood for a Native American reservation. On the second day of the firewood mission trip, he suffered a headache and dizziness that “never went away.” The symptoms progressed from brain fog and memory issues to the loss of his capacity to speak and then he became bedridden.

Pastor Crook’s undiagnosed symptoms became so aggressive and debilitating that his wife had to leave her job to become his full-time caregiver. He was unable to perform basic elements of self-care including toileting himself without the assistance of his wife.

Visiting over 50 doctors and 2 extended hospitalizations did not result in a diagnosis. In part, his diagnosis was delayed by a medical bias that the former Division 1 football player was afflicted by concussion-related disease. He was also misdiagnosed with a CerebroSpinal Fluid (CSF) Leak, a sinus infection, and mental illness.

He was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease by a Naturopathic Doctor in Bend, Oregon. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed by blood testing from IGeneX.

If you would like to learn more about how a Pastor, psychology major and former Division 1 athlete is building a toolbox of spiritual, emotional and physical tools to heal from Lyme disease, then tune in now!

This week Tick Boot Camp interviewed Certified Trauma Coach and entrepreneurial founder of EmotionalHealthAccelerator.com: Ali Kates. Ms. Kate’s is from Sonoma County, California.

In the comprehensive interview, Ms. Cates shared how she endured a series of traumatic childhood experiences that included chronic illness caused by Lyme disease, emotional pain brought about by parental philandering and divorce, the death of a family member and best friend, and finally a sexual assault.

Ms. Kates attempted to manage her traumatic childhood by “putting pain aside” and “shoving [it] under the rug.” Unfortunately, the avoidance techniques failed to serve her, forcing her to utilize alcohol as a vehicle to meet her “need to leave [her] body… because her body did not feel safe.”

After treating with 20+ doctors over 13 years, Ms. Kates was ironically diagnosed with Lyme disease 3 weeks before her wedding. Initially, she treated with a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) for 9 months at a cost of over $150,000. When the time and money invested into the intensive treatment failed to provide any health gains, she turned to mold detoxification and Bee Venom Therapy (BVT).

Today, Ms. Kates is building on her health gains and using her childhood trauma to help others heal from illnesses when trauma is involved. If you would like to learn more about how a trauma coach built a business to assist people to heal through trauma, then tune in now!

As a special gift to the Tick Boot Camp community, Ms. Kates is offering a free training on “How to Face Your Emotions Without Being Exhausted in the Process.”

PS Carrie Perry from Sam's Spoons special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich!

Samantha Perry is a 23-year-old graduate of Penn State University. She is currently working as a traveling yoga teacher in Costa Rica. Next year she will move to Spain to commence a graduate studies program in Doctor of Chiropractic.

Samantha’s Lyme disease journey began during her junior year of high school. The life of the “super active, ambitious and social teenager” was halted by flu-symptoms that migrated to joint pain, fatigue, nausea, and low-grade fever.

Samantha and her parents visited 7 doctors before she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. She was misdiagnosed with “just anxiety,” an adolescent eating disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain and “…was encouraged to go to a pain management camp.”

Recognizing that getting well may not have been possible if her parents could not afford to pay for her care, she and her family created the Sam’s Spoons Foundation. Since 2018, the not-for-profit organization has been helping families affected by Lyme disease by providing treatment grants to defray out of pocket medical expenses.

If you would like to learn more about how the Perry family navigated the perils of chronic Lyme illness to find wellness, independence, and purpose, then tune in now!

This week Tick Boot Camp invited the "Core Four" of Generation Lyme, Brooke Stoddard, Jennifer Hoffmann, Jesse Ruben, and Haley DiBiase, to discuss the services the not-for-profit organization offer to the Lyme disease community. In this comprehensive interview the board of directors discusses:

• The origin story of Generation Lyme
• The relationship between Project Lyme and Generation Lyme
• The mission of Generation of Lyme
• How Generation Lyme is creating a community
• How Generation Lyme is using online meetups as an avenue of support for Lyme patients to make personal connections with other patients
• How and why Generation Lyme shares stories of Lyme patients, caregivers and loved ones

If you would like to learn more about how Generation Lyme can help you or a loved one on a Lyme disease journey, then tune in now!

Amanda Tiberi is a multi-talented 33-year-old clinical nutritionist and founder of the Amanda Nova Wellness community. Ms. Tiberi is from Westchester County, New York.

Ms. Tiberi’s journey with chronic illness, triggered by Lyme disease, began when she “got sick in 2018 and never got better.” Her symptoms initially presented as chronic back pain then migrated to “brain fog, full body muscle and joint pain, digestive issues, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and weight gain.”

After suffering a misdiagnosis of fibromyalgia, she was diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease by a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD). Unfortunately, healing did not begin until she left the care of the LLMD and “took her treatment into her own hands.”

Ms. Tiberi discovered that Lyme disease attacked her physical, emotional, and spiritual health and learned that physical healing was not possible until she brought in the “spiritual piece.”

If you would like to learn more about how a young woman became grateful for her Lyme experience because it revealed to her that she was born to help other people overcome chronic illness, then tune in now!

PS Ali Moresco special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Gretel Adams is a 36-year-old small business owner from Columbus, Ohio. She has owned and operated Sunny Meadows Flower Farm since 2006 with her husband Steve.

Prior to contracting Lyme disease, Ms. Adams worked very hard and had to perform both physical labor and intense decision-making. While not working, she enjoyed socializing with friends and attending music festivals.

At the age of 33, Ms. Adams had found a tick biting her and she quickly removed it and went on with her life. The very next day she developed alarming symptoms that just got worse and worse.

Ms. Adams’ doctor was unable to see her in a timely manner and 13 days after the tick bite she went to an urgent care facility because she “felt something foreign in [her] body, everything was tingly, [she] could not stand in the field because the sun was too bright, her body was so weak, and she was very confused.” The urgent care doctor diagnosed her with Lyme disease and gave her 10 days of antibiotics.

Ms. Adams followed up with her primary care physician who told her she only needed 21 of antibiotics. At the end of the 21 days, she was even worse, but her doctor told Ms. Adams that “there was no way her symptoms were what they were, and she just had to deal with it.”

Ms. Adams subsequently visited two Lyme specialists where she was diagnosed with active Lyme, co-infections, fungal infections, and other viruses. She has treated and had some great success using a combination of antibiotics, herbs, laser treatments, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), ozone, and more.

If you would like to learn how a young woman from Ohio has made progress rebounding from medical gaslighting, severe neurological Lyme, and a plethora of other diagnoses, then tune in now!

PS Claire Dalton from the Chronically Care Project and the Chronically Beautiful Blog special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!

This week Tick Boot Camp invited Stuti Vora, customer service supervisor of IGeneX, to discuss how and why IGeneX has become the laboratory most trusted by patients in the Lyme disease community. In this comprehensive interview Ms. Vora discusses:

• The IGeneX origin story
• Blood, urine, and miscellaneous testing options available through IGeneX
• The new IGeneX Tick-Borne Disease Test Directory built to assist the patient community to find the information needed on Lyme and co-infection testing
• How to quickly filter IGeneX testing options by price, disease, methodology, specimen type, and availability by state
• How the IGeneX Immunoblot test has a sensitivity rate that is double the standard two-tier protocol
• The IGeneX advantage of testing for more species and strains of tick-borne illness no matter when a patient was exposed
• How IGeneX has armed scientists with the most cutting-edge technology in the world
• Why IGeneX has committed to building partnerships with Lyme community groups such as ILADS, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, and the LivLyme Foundation.

If you would like to know more about how IGeneX can help you on your Lyme disease diagnostic and treatment journey, then tune in now!

Gabriella Bordonaro is a 21-year-old student majoring in Marketing at Le Moyne College located in Syracuse, New York. She plans to continue with her studies by attending graduate school in the fall.

Ms. Bordonaro spent her childhood in the rural central New York region where she enjoyed a life filled with outdoor activities. Hailing from a family of athletes, she followed in the footsteps of her uber athletic brother and became a 4-sport athlete.

Unfortunately, her outdoorsy childhood in the northeastern United States Lyme belt frequently exposed her to ticks. She suffered an undisclosed tick bite that triggered migrating and undiagnosed illnesses. Her regular visits to the pediatric doctor’s office caused her to have “the biggest file out of all the other kids/”

At the age of 17, she suffered an injury and then an illness that reminded her of the symptoms a close friend described after suffering a tick bite. She subsequently tested positive for Lyme disease and began treatment.

During her treatment journey Ms. Bordonaro learned that diet, exercise, and forgiveness are essential elements of immune health and healing. She started a fitness/ health Instagram page and reminds herself that “no matter what people say… you can control how long you are going to hold on to it.”

If you would like to learn more about how a forgiving spirit enhanced a young woman’s healing from Lyme disease, then tune in now!

Dr Richard Horowitz is an internationally recognized Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD), author of 2 New York Times bestselling books and co-author of the 2018 Housing and Human Services (HHS) Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG) report to Congress. He has treated more than 14,000 Lyme disease patients earning him the reputation as the LLMD to the stars.

During his career, Dr. Horowitz has learned that Lyme disease and chronic illness can be healed if treated holistically, i.e., physically, emotionally, and spiritually. His patients have also taught him that Lyme disease is a symptom of a chronically ill earth, suffering ongoing ravages of climate change.

In his third book, Starseed R/evolution - The Awakening, Dr. Horowitz demonstrates that our planet can be saved from peril if the Lyme disease community can set aside differences and join forces to lead the world’s communities to individual and collective healing.

Described as a “Gulliver’s Travels for the twenty third century, Starseed R/evolution utilizes satire, adventure, pop psychology, mystical exploration and a breath of fresh air in a world choking on its own hubris.” The book captures the scope of the threats and solutions required to prevent the ecocide facing our planet.

Jody Levy is a 42-year-old artist, designer and serial entrepreneur from Detroit, Michigan. She is the founder and co-founded of several successful businesses, including LabElymental, The Milk Cleanse, NeuroPraxis and WTRMLN WTR.

Ms. Levy’s Lyme journey began when she heard the call to leave Michigan to attend college in upstate New York. A tick bite during her freshman year transformed her life from “amazing and full of magic” to 18 years of health and diagnostic labor.

Although she achieved a high level of professional success, undiagnosed Lyme robbed her of the energy to enjoy a full life. Her neurological symptoms progressed to a point where she “could not remember the name of her close friend and brother-in-law.”

While attending a party, she was approached by a friend who shared with her his secret to his remission from Lyme. He told Ms. Levy that healing was available through Dr. Linda Lancaster and her Harmonic Healing Milk Cleanse.

The 8-day Milk Cleanse resolved all Ms. Levy’s Lyme symptoms and allowed her to fully return to work and to her social life. Achieving remission inspired Ms. Levy to build a business to make the Milk Cleanse available to the world.

If you would like to know more about how The Milk Cleanse can help you on your healing journey, then tune in now!