Tick Boot Camp’s guests today is Dr. Rachel Long. Dr. Long is a Naturopathic Doctor, the author of the book “Living in the Lyme Light: The Challenges and Triumphs of Living Life with Chronic Lyme Disease” and a sought-after public speaker. At the age of 16 after a Lyme Disease diagnosis, she had to travel 6 hours per day, 5 days a week for treatment. Because her parents could not maintain their jobs and take off the time that the treatment protocol required, her community came together to drive her to and from each of her doctor’s appointments. If you would like to learn more about how a community came together to help a family win a tick disease battle, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is Mikayla Vacher from North Scituate, Rhode Island. Despite never seeing a tick in her life, Mikayla started to develop weird symptoms around the age of 12. She had migraines, anxiety, panic attacks, and a feeling of “overall doom.” By her junior year of high school, she had to give up playing competitive ice hockey, and couldn’t hang out with friends. Not only was her social life struggling, but her family life began to fall apart as well. Mikayla Vacher visited countless doctors with her mom, but none of them could properly diagnose her, and her dad didn’t believe that she was truly sick. He often told her to suck it up, or claimed that she wanted attention. The sole focus of Mikayla’s mom was making sure that her daughter got better, and her parents ended up separating. She then got her Lyme Disease diagnosis and has received various treatments since then. If you would like to learn more about how this brave young woman learned to trust herself and is now tackling Lyme Disease head on, then tune in!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is Jennifer Buttaccio from Chicago, Illinois. Before becoming sick, she led an active life that included teaching kickboxing, doing pilates, and making DVDs. Then, after she had surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, Jennifer Buttaccio’s Lyme symptoms started to reveal themselves, and her life was never the same. She had to give up all of her hobbies that required her to be physically active, and could no longer work as an occupational therapist. She was bed bound for almost two years. Despite not even feeling 50% back to her old self, Jennifer Buttaccio started writing, eventually becoming an editor for Dr. Bill Rawls’ website. If you want to know how Jennifer Buttaccio remains so driven despite being at war with Lyme Disease, tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guests today are Natalie Sayre and Will Fleming. Natalie and Will were recently engaged to be married after an 11-year romance that began when they were 16 years old. The relationship survived many bumps, including Natalie’s chronic Lyme Disease that began to limit almost all social activities starting in the couple's junior year in college. If you would like to learn more about how a young couple continued to grow a romantic relationship in the middle of a Lyme and tick disease battle, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is Leah Spears-Blackmon. In late 2017, Leah Spears-Blackmon suffered three progressively serious allergic reactions after attending a wedding in Colorado. The third and most serious allergic reaction occurred while in the middle of a lake in rural Northwest Arkansas. Thanks to the quick action of a local friend and doctor, Ms. Spear-Blackmon’s potentially life-threatening allergy was prevented from progressing to anaphylactic shock. If you would like to learn more about how a woman from Arkansas has changed her diet and her life to protect her health from an allergy caused by a tick bite, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is the International racing champion Angelica Fuentes Garcia. After contracting Lyme Disease, the woman credited with breaking through professional racing’s gender barrier was forced to resign from her race team. Her illness became chronic and career threatening because she was misdiagnosed by 22 separate doctors, on two continents, over 3 years. If you would like to learn more about how a woman broke gender barriers in racing and medicine to regain her health and her career, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is Dr. Veronica Leslie, a United Kingdom (UK) educated Naturopathic Medical practitioner from Cucamonga, California. During her youth, the self described “farm girl” estimates that she was bitten by hundreds of ticks. Not until the age of 33, after a trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming, did she begin to exhibit the symptoms of a tick disease that developed over 7 months to a full borne disability. If you would like to learn more about how the former farm girl treated her vector diseases and regained 100% of her health, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is speech language pathologist and actress Lauren Friedwald. Ms. Friedwald’s acting career includes acting parts in various shows such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, White Collar, Royal Pains and the Michael J. Fox Show. For over 15 years, Lauren Friedwald was ill from Lyme Disease before she was properly tested and diagnosed by her 21st doctor. During her chronic Lyme Disease journey, she became fully disabled and unable to work for over two years. If you would like to learn more about how a speech language pathologist and actress overcame Lyme Disease to regain her life, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is nurse practitioner Lindsay Tuttle. For over 2 years, Lindsay Tuttle was chronically ill from Lyme Disease before she was properly tested and self-diagnosed. During her 2 year diagnostic journey, she was treated by medical colleagues in various sub-specialties including neurology, rheumatology, naturopathy and primary care. Her primary care physician dismissed Lyme Disease from consideration because “people do not get Lyme disease in Florida.” If you would like to learn more about how a nurse practitioner overcame the limits of traditional medicine and then turned her Lyme Disease pain into her platform, then tune in now!

Tick Boot Camp’s guest today is Claire Dalton. Claire Dalton is a 22 year old woman from Utah. For most of her life, Claire’s mother was chronically ill from late stage Lyme Disease. It never crossed Claire’s mind that her mother’s illness was something that would impact her as well. Unfortunately, at the age of 17, Claire began to exhibit the symptoms of a tick disease that progressed to a chronic stage and forced her to leave college before the end of her first semester. Claire runs three blogs on her Chronically Beautiful platform in addition to the Chronically Care Project. If you would like to learn more about how a family from Utah worked together to overcome multi-generational Lyme Disease, then tune in now!