Today is the first day of Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Lyme disease has shaped the lives of multiple Mighty Well team members and of so many of our Friends in the Fight. This month, we’ll be taking time to acknowledge the impact of this terrible disease and to call attention to the need for further research, stronger diagnostics, and better treatment around the world.
When Emily and Jacqueline Sposito sat down for a Facebook Live Interview last month, they spoke about many of these issues. If you missed the interview, don’t worry! Tune in to watch their full chat below.
“If I can do it, you can absolutely do it too. You just always have to know it will get better.”
Here is a closer look into Jacqueline’s story…
Finding a Diagnosis
Finding a diagnosis for Lyme disease can be one of the hardest parts of the process for our Friends in the Fight. Jacqueline was lucky to get a diagnosis early. Jacqueline was on vacation with friends in California when she started to feel really strange. She was lightheaded, waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, and couldn’t feel her arms.
She knew something was wrong. Even when the first doctor she visited said there was nothing wrong, she felt like she had to seek another opinion. Something wasn’t right in her body. That determination pushed her towards a diagnosis: Lyme disease.
“By the end of the month I couldn’t even leave my house without my parents carrying me,” Jacqueline told us. “I knew what [Lyme disease] was, but I never knew to what extent it could change your life or debilitate someone.”
Lyme Disease Awareness
Even given her determination to get another opinion, Jacqueline wouldn’t have even considered the possibility of a Lyme disease diagnosis had it not been for Yolanda Hadid’s Lyme awareness efforts.
“Yolanda Hadid was a big reason as to why I was diagnosed,” Jacqueline said. “My mom followed her journey on Desperate Housewives. She said I kept repeating the same thing as Yolanda, the things I was describing were really similar to her. My mom was really the one who pushed me to get tested for Lyme.”
Giving Back
About six months after her diagnosis, Jacqueline decided that she wanted to start giving back to the Lyme disease community and spread awareness on her own. She selected our partners at Global Lyme Alliance as the organization she wanted to support.
Jacqueline admires the way that GLA focuses on awareness, research, and prevention, and we couldn’t agree more.
Mighty Well & Global Lyme Alliance
Jacqueline is helping to spread the word about this partnership so that we can better support Global Lyme Alliance and their efforts. Every purchase of our Undefeated GLA T-shirt and Green Tweed PICCPerfect PICC Line Cover will generate a gift back to GLA!
Join Jacqueline and get a shirt of your own to show your support!
Thank you Jacqueline for joining us this month on Facebook Live and for sharing your story. Stay tuned for more conversations from the Mighty Well community, coming soon.