Episode 251: Sam's Spoons - an interview with Sam and Carrie Perry
Sam's childhood Lyme experience inspired Carrie to create Sam's Spoons, a nonprofit organization that provides Lyme patient grants
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!