Stacy Johnson is a TV and film working actor, singer, director, producer, and stunt woman. Her acting career began at the age of 4 on Sesame Street and has blossomed to include high profile projects like “Heroes,” “Ozark,” “The Greatest Showman,” “Halloween,” and “Iron Man” movies. She has produced and won awards for her documentary films "Hursit" and “The Sun Sets.”

As a successful actress, Ms. Johnson has taught students on acting and in furthering their careers. She and her husband Scott Dukelow manage SJD Acting Studio that coaches students on acting and the film industry.

Ms. Johnson’s Lyme disease journey began with a tick bite in 2005. Despite developing classic Lyme disease symptoms and working with scores of the top doctors in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and North Carolina, she was not diagnosed until after more than a decade of suffering.

Prior to securing a Lyme disease diagnosis, she suffered from migrating neurological and cardiac symptoms. In 2015 she had to be resuscitated by emergency service personnel after her heart stopped during a visit to a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicago.

Desperate for answers for her health crisis, Ms. Johnson visited Dr. Jeffrey Lawson, MD at the Piedmont Arthritis Clinic located in South Carolina. Working with Ms. Johnson and her husband, Dr. Lawson diagnosed and treated Ms. Johnson for Lyme disease.

The lengthy and painful encounter with Lyme disease inspired Ms. Johnson, Mr. Dukelow, and Dr. Lawson to tell their story on film. The documentary “Lyme Disease: Beating Back Death” is slated to complete filming and to be released on Netflix later this year.

If you would like to learn more about how an actor and her team beat back death secondary to Lyme disease, then tune in now!

This week Tick Boot Camp interviewed the Director of Integrative and Interventional Pain Management at Case Integrative Health: Dr. Deepti Agarwal, MD. Dr. Agarwal is a double board certified and fellowship trained Pain Physician and Anesthesiologist. She served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois where she presented and published on a wide range of scholarly research on Anesthesia, Acute and Chronic pain medicine. In this comprehensive interview, Dr. Agarwal discusses:

• Her deep fascination with the power of combining integrative medicine with conventional medicine to improve patient outcomes
• Managing pain vs locating the root cause of pain
• Mindfulness, Food and Movement as medicine
• How the combination approach to wellness has the ability to relieve pain and prevent future complications
• The role of inflammation in the disease and healing processes
• How pre-habilitation and patient education initiatives enhance recovery pathways

If you would like to learn more about how the combination of eastern and western medical philosophies and the merger of integrative and conventional medicine can serve to defeat chronic pain and boost healing, then tune in now!

This week Tick Boot Camp interviewed writer Frances Cecilia and Director Tony C. Silva, the power couple that created one of this year’s finest full-length feature films. By turning the camera towards themselves, they show the intimate side of our modern era's most misunderstood chronic illness: Lyme disease. In The Monster Inside Me, Frances and Tony take the viewer on their journey of researching the truth, lies and healing behind Lyme disease. In this comprehensive discussion, Frances and Tony discuss their 5-part documentary that includes:

• Part 1 – The Losses of Lyme
• Part 2 – The Darkness of Lyme
• Part 3 – The Truth of Lyme
• Part 4 – The Healing of Lyme
• Part 5 – The Beauty of Lyme

If you would like to learn more about the full spectrum of Lyme disease and how it affects everyday people, then tune in now!

Kelsey Wenburg is a 39-year-old woman from Anchorage, Alaska. She’s on a health journey healing from Lyme disease and mold.

Prior to contracting Lyme disease, Ms. Wenburg was working full-time and ran weekly workouts. She then became a health coach and helped others heal their bodies from a variety of ailments.

At the age of 29, Ms. Wenburg first began to exhibit alarming symptoms that she later learned were caused by Lyme disease, which included fatigue and insomnia. Unfortunately, as time went on, Ms. Wenburg developed worsening symptoms and had to quit her government job three years after her initial symptoms began.

Ms. Wenburg tried to simplify her life while trying to figure out what was going on with her health, but 3 years later she became completely bedridden, lost her ability to think, and developed debilitating seizures. Shortly after this decline, she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease at the age of 35.

Ms. Weburg used a wide variety of treatment modalities, including Bee Venom Therapy (BVT), Disulfiram, antibiotics (oral, IV, and injections), antiparasitics, mold treatments, herbs, ozone, laser therapy, and more while treating with Dr. Klinghardt and Dr. Lehman. She’s been treating for the past 3 and a half years and has made significant progress recently.

If you would like to learn how a young woman from Alaska never gave up after doctors dismissed her symptoms for years and has since used a diverse set of treatment tools to heal, then tune in now!

PS Heather Glovack special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!

This week Tick Boot Camp invited Lindsay Mitchell, founder and CEO of Vital-Side, to discuss the membership program that empowers people suffering with chronic illness and limbic system impairment to retrain their brain out of the chronic stress response to gain relief from their symptoms. In this comprehensive interview, Ms. Mitchell discusses:

• Her experience of having recovered from Lyme disease
• How Vital-Side’s application of mental exercises and techniques are designed to take the brain from a state of survival to one of growth and repair
• That the Vital-Side tools are non-invasive, empowering and backed by the latest science
• How she has worked with thousands of people worldwide teaching about the healing properties of the brain
• How the Vital-Side 4 step method of Reset, Rewire, Elevate, and Regulate is designed to retrain the brain to achieve long term sustainable results

If you would like to learn more about how you could benefit from the Vital-Side approach to rewiring your brain to optimize its function and allow your body to rest, then tune in now!

This week Tick Boot Camp invited Robert Miller, a Certified Traditional Naturopath and founder of the Tree of Life Naturopathic practice, NutriGenetic Research Institute, and Functional Genomic Analysis, to discuss the relationship between genetic variants and Lyme disease. In this comprehensive interview, Mr. Miller discusses:

• The origin stories of the 3 companies he founded
• The virtue of genetic testing for people suffering from Lyme disease
• How genetics “loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger” of chronic illness
• The top genetic factors seen with chronic Lyme disease
• How external genetic factors, such as, mold, plastics, and EMFs impact a Lyme disease journey
• Why internal genetic factors cause inflammation, histamines, and free radicals triggering chronic illness.

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

Samantha Marie Chocano is a multi-talented 25-year-old entrepreneur, graphic artist, YouTuber, gamer and glass ceiling breaking athlete from Fresno, California. She is vlogging and publishing her “entire treatment” journey to expose the reality of Lyme disease.

Ms. Chocano’s childhood garnered her the opportunity to “do many out of the box things.” She was the sole female wrestler on her high school and college teams, moved to different parts of the county each year as the child of a military family and “was even featured on [an episode] of MTV Catfish.”

Ms. Chocano’s nomadic childhood exposed her to new experiences and unfamiliar perils. At the age of 12 she moved to Virginia and was bitten “by many ticks.” Her parents would remove the ticks “with a hot needle” and told her the worst that would happen is she could “get a flu for a couple of weeks.”

The tick bites provoked sleep paralysis, extreme fatigue, gut inflammation, anxiety, depression and “a slight Bell’s Palsy.” Unfortunately, the symptoms were written off as emblematic of transitioning “into a typical teenager.”

By the age of 23 she became chronically ill, despite treating with over 20 doctors. She finally located a global diagnosis after she was tested for Lyme disease by a Naturopathic Doctor.

If you would like to learn more about how a young woman came to learn that she “had no other options but to do research [herself] and save [her] own life,” then tune in now!

PS Jessica Snajder from Partner In Lyme special guest co-hosted with Rich!

Dani Tygr is a 34-year-old hair stylist from Los Angeles, California. In addition to film and television, her work has been featured in music videos, red carpet events, music tours, music festivals, editorials, runway events, and more.

Prior to contracting Lyme disease, Dani traveled all over the world working in the beauty industry serving as an executive global platform artist and technical educator. She graduated from the Paul Mitchell School of Cosmetology and won various awards including the Modern Salon Top 100 Artist and the Paul Mitchell Hairstyling Award.

In her late twenties, Ms. Tygr first began to exhibit increasingly intrusive symptoms which she later learned were caused by Lyme disease. At 31 years old, she could no longer manage her illness and the true destructive nature of Lyme disease reared its ugly head.

Ms. Tygr was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme disease at the age of 32. Doctors had initially associated her symptoms with thyroid disease and autoimmune disease which runs in her family prior to her Lyme diagnosis. She was misdiagnosed by many doctors with a “damaging” mental health illness and one doctor told her she “really needs to get mental help from a professional because this is all in [her] head.”

Dr. Moses A. Laufer from the Holtorf Medical Group in El Segundo diagnosed and treated Ms. Tygr with various herbs, supplements, BPC-157 (peptide), and more. They also targeted immune function and utilized a special diet.

If you would like to learn how a young woman from Los Angeles learned how to forge a new and better version of herself through chronic Lyme disease as she continues to give it her all and thrive in all aspects of life, then tune in now!

PS Margaux Gunning special guest co-hosted this interview with Matt from Tick Boot Camp!

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!