Brianna Marie is a 39-year-old Holistic Doctor, athlete, and mother. She is the creator of the Holistically Fit Protocol and the @HolisticallyFitMomma and @HolisticallyFitBabe social platforms.

Dr. Brianna Marie grew up in a tick endemic community and suffered from classic Lyme symptoms since early childhood. Despite growing up the child of a medical doctor and treating with “dozens” of “allopathic doctors,” she was not diagnosed with Lyme disease until she was 32 years old.

The failures of the allopathic medical community inspired Dr. Brianna Marie to study and utilize holistic therapies including stem cells, yoga, IV Glutathione, CBD, probiotics, and infrared light therapy on her healing journey.

If you would like to learn more about how a Holistic Doctor rebuilt her health and converted her experience into a healing framework, then tune in now!

Russ Bell is a married father of two minor children. His MIT educated wife Nicole describes him as the most intelligent man she had ever met.

Mr. Bell grew up in the American South where he enjoyed outdoor sporting activities such as hiking and shooting. He understood that ticks and tick bites were part and parcel of a sportsman’s outdoor experience.

Toward the end of his professional career, Russ Bell fell in love with and married a brilliant young colleague. The couple’s 20-year age gap presented an opportunity to engineer an idyllic life: Russ would begin a new chapter in life as a caretaker for their young children and Nicole would continue to build her blossoming career.

The seemingly perfect family planning came to a sudden halt when the Lyme spirochetes and co-infections lurking in Russ’ brain caused him to suffer cognitive decline from Alzheimer’s disease, rendering him unable to care for his children and eventually himself.

During the family’s painful journey, Nicole Bell heard a call to describe her family’s experience with the raw reality of Lyme and converted her journal into a critically acclaimed memoir: What Lurks in the Woods.

If you would like to learn more about the Bell family’s “mistakes and successes” and the book that author Kris Newby described as a “must read for caregivers,” then tune in now!

Patricia Cosulich is a 26-year-old multi-talented artist, entrepreneur and social innovator. She is the playwright and producer of The Great Imitator, a Lyme disease play designed to “change the way we view healing, build community, mobilize policy change and fundraise through storytelling.”

Ms. Cosulich was a gifted child that enjoyed the exploration of her talents until she suffered the tragic loss of her father. The stress of the loss overwhelmed her immune defenses and unleashed Lyme disease.

For years, doctors dismissed classic Lyme symptoms “as grief and trauma” until she tested positive by an IGeneX blood test. Securing a diagnosis permitted her to treat with “an out of state” Lyme literature doctor that utilized modalities such as a “rotation of antibiotics, herbs, immune support and nervous system retraining.”

Although “not 100% [healed] yet,” her healing journey has allowed Ms. Cosulich to rediscover her “essential self” and at the same time feel “completely transformed - sort of like Patricia 2.0.”

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease helped a young woman find her purpose while on a journey of rediscovery and transformation, then tune in now!

Marsha Goins is a 41-year-old Oxford University and London School of Economics educated marketing entrepreneur. She is the founder of @MomToMomfluencer, a business “help[ing] mompreneurs grow and monetize [business] on Instagram.”

Ms. Goins began the momprenership phase of her career after working in the not for profit and big business sectors. She served on conflict resolution teams in several war-torn regions and then worked for Amazon.

Growing up on the US east coast Lyme belt, she frequently suffered tick bites causing her to believe she was a “tick magnet.” Unfortunately, none of her tick encounters were followed up with treatment and she eventually began to suffer from classic, but undiagnosed Lyme disease symptoms.

Ms. Goins visited with several doctors in search of a diagnosis and was misdiagnosed with fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid arthritis. Shortly after she began breast feeding her children, her health crashed and her doctors utilized blood testing to diagnose her with Lyme disease.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease inspired a woman to reject the lure of big business to build a mom-to-mom entrepreneurs venture, then tune in now!

Brett Knight is a 26-year-old licensed personal trainer currently working full time parenting her son and healing from Lyme disease. She has been managing Lyme-related health issues for “all of her adult life” and her earliest symptoms presented by the age of 17.

Ms. Knight’s Lyme symptoms began with “feeling off,” “ringing in [her] ears,” and insomnia. Over time, she suffered from back pain, fevers, difficulty walking, and loss of the ability to lift her arms.

For 3 years she visited with medical doctors who misdiagnosed her with Chronic Fatigue and Depression. Finally, at the age of 20, a family friend and the founder of Infusio, Philip Battiade, was visiting her in-laws and utilized a biofeedback machine to diagnose her with Lyme disease. The Lyme diagnosis was later confirmed by blood testing.

Ms. Knight’s circuitous Lyme disease journey included stem cell therapy at Infusio in Germany, breast implant and explant surgeries, competitive bodybuilding, vitamin therapy, dietary changes and “game changing” Bee Venom Therapy (BVT).

If you would like to learn more about how a young mother is balancing parenting and healing by using a diverse set of modalities, then tune in now!

Tiara Smith is a 27-year-old financial industry marketing specialist from Kansas who was introduced to Lyme disease by a spouse suffering from the chronic disease.

Inspired to assist her wife overcome the illness, Ms. Smith joined Lyme groups and studied the work of Dr Bill Rawls and herbalist Stephen Buhner. As she witnessed her spouse go “through hell on antibiotics,” she searched for a sustainable treatment protocol.

Over time, Ms. Smith grew increasingly concerned that she could contract Lyme through intimate contact with her spouse. She discussed her concerns with a medical doctor and was advised that she should abandon her concerns about sexual transmission.

Despite taking steps to protect against intimate transmission, she began to exhibit symptoms that mirrored those of her spouse. Her first doctor refused to clinically diagnose and treat her classic Lyme symptoms because a blood test disclosed only a single positive Lyme band.

Undeterred by the failures of traditional medicine, Ms. Smith began to treat Lyme disease by utilizing the Dr. Rawls Vital Plan Restore kit with some additional herbal add-ons. She grew to believe that the only way to regain her health was to “become her own herbalist.”

If you would like to learn more about how herbal tools were used to defeat sexually transmitted Lyme disease, then tune in now!

Megan Ward is the 30-year-old founder and CEO of Ergo Hemp Co., a health and wellness company established to provide the community with reputably sourced CBD products.

Ms. Ward grew up in the heart of the Long Island, New York Lyme belt. Her environmentally aware parents and grandparent taught her to conduct regular tick checks, often resulting in finding biting ticks on her body.

By the age of 8, she had suffered from classic Lyme disease symptoms including fatigue, brain fog, and joint pains that regularly disturbed her sleep. Her symptoms resulted in Ms. Ward “continuously seeing [her] pediatrician” who diagnosed her with “growing pains.”

Her “growing pains” followed her to college where a Lyme literate classmate recognized that she was suffering from Lyme disease. Ms. Ward then visited a doctor and tested positive for Lyme.

Following her diagnosis, Ms. Ward located and treated with one of the top Lyme Literate Doctors in the US who treated her with a combination of antibiotics. She also utilized herbs, prebiotics, probiotics, dietary changes and the “game changing” CBD.

The positive health results she achieved utilizing CBD inspired Ms. Ward to study the endocannabinoid system and the beneficial impacts of cannabis products. She then founded a company to “educate consumers about the amazing benefits of cannabis and provide high-quality CBD products.”

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease motivated the creation of a health and wellness company, then tune in now!

Colonel Nicole Malachowski is a nationally recognized fighter pilot and military commander. Her 21-year military career included flying 26 combat missions, serving as the first female Thunderbird pilot, serving as a White House Fellow in the administrations of Presidents Bush and Obama, and commanding the 333rd Fighter Squadron at Seymour Air Force Base in North Carolina. Colonel Malachowski is a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame and is the recipient of 11 Air Force medals including the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal.

As commander of the 333rd Fighter Squadron, she participated in outdoor training “without taking precautions for preventing insect bites.” Upon returning from training, she visited military doctors to be treated for “flu like symptoms” and an “EM rash.” The doctor diagnosed her rash as a spider bite “because [they] don’t have Lyme in North Carolina.”

Shortly thereafter, Colonel Malachowski was stationed in Newport, Rhode Island and discovered an engorged tick on her leg. Her military doctors warned her to “watch for a rash,” which never appeared. Three months later she tested IgM positive for Lyme disease and was prescribed 28 days of antibiotics.

Colonel Malachowski’s health quickly declined over the course of the 3 years following her 2nd tick bite. She became wheelchair bound despite treating with 24 military and civilian doctors. She was finally “fully diagnosed” after she was granted permission to treat at the civilian Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness – Spaulding Rehabilitation Network.

Unfortunately, the late-stage diagnosis and treatment were too late to preserve Colonel Malachowski’s military career. She was forced to retire in 2017 because she contracted “tick-borne illnesses.” Today, Colonel Malachowski is a public speaker and patient advocate for people suffering from tick-borne illnesses.

If you would like to learn more about how a fighter pilot is using her military education, experience and training to win the battle with Lyme disease, then tune in now!

Martha Edmister is a multi-talented 47-year-old artist, entrepreneur, and mental health coach from Baltimore Maryland. Her health journey began after suffering a childhood tick bite, 2 years before Borrelia Burgdorferi was identified as the bacterial cause of Lyme.

Shortly after her childhood tick bite, she developed health issues that were followed for 14 months by the head of endocrinology at DC’s Children’s Hospital. For the next 40 years she battled mental and physical illnesses resulting in multiple hospitalizations.

Prior to securing a Lyme Disease diagnosis, she was medicated for serious mental illness and her physical symptoms digressed to a point where she lost her vision, lost the ability to work, and suffered incontinence.

At the age of 41, Ms. Edmister tested CDC positive for Lyme Disease by a doctor utilizing the two-tier Elisa/Western blot tests. The positive diagnosis liberated her from years of mental health medication and launched a healing journey. Her diverse treatment protocols included two trips to the German Klinik St. George and the Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

On August 24, 2021, Ms. Edmister officially joined the ranks of nationally recognized Lyme disease activists by testifying before the Federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group.

If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease taught an artist and activist the importance of pivoting in life and Lyme, then tune in now!

Nora Claire is a 30-year-old entrepreneur from Denver Colorado. Her Lyme disease journey began immediately after being bit by a tick when she was 17 years old.

Ms. Claire developed a summer flu within a few days of her tick bite but didn’t connect it with the tick bite because she didn’t notice a rash. A few months later, she developed fatigue, joint pain, depression, and anxiety.

Ms. Claire’s symptoms began to progress throughout the next four years while at college and included unusual brain fog and food intolerances. After college, her existing symptoms worsened, and she developed even more symptoms like extreme body pain and inflammation. As a result, doctors prescribed medication for her symptoms without digging deeper to find the root cause.

Ms. Claire sought the assistance of a Chinese medicine practitioner who diagnosed her with a thyroid problem and also performed a cupping session. Afterwards, Ms. Claire had an emotional release which caused her to have the realization of “I have Lyme disease.”

Shortly after, Ms. Claire was diagnosed by a naturopath in Beverly Hills using a non-traditional testing technique involving electrodes. Ms. Claire’s treatment regimen included a toolbox loaded with natural medicine and even a treatment never before discussed on the Tick Boot Camp Podcast!

If you would like to learn more about how a brilliant young woman leaned into natural and holistic medicine to heal from chronic Lyme disease, then tune in now!