HELP LAUREN BEAT CHRONIC LYME & GET HER LIFE BACK

Dear Friends and Family of the Biltons,

How do I begin?

Over three years ago, Lauren Bilton, who is now 24, started to experience joint pain, gastrointestinal issues, and fatigue but had no idea why. It took over a year of misdiagnoses and countless doctors to finally get a diagnosis from the Cohasset Lyme and PANS Treatment Center in Massachusetts. Lauren was diagnosed with Chronic Lyme Disease, multiple tick-borne co-infections including babesia, bartonella, and parasites. She was also diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and Mold Toxicity, which I unfortunately know about from first-hand experience with mold in my own home. The Mold Toxicity alone is difficult to diagnose or treat and can affect every aspect of your life. Add in the Chronic Lyme and other tick-borne co-infections, and it is a life altering, life threatening battle no person should have to go through– let alone a 21-year-old young woman, just beginning her adult life. Until one understands how incredibly complex Chronic Lyme is, they cannot imagine how it adversely affects every organ system in the body, including the brain.

If you know the Bilton Family, you know that they are a hardworking family who raised three kids in the town of Hanover, Massachusetts. If you don’t know them, Mark and Wilma have dedicated their lives to professions that help people with many aspects of their lives, including several members of my own family. They instilled in their kids the importance of working hard and becoming compassionate, generous young adults. Their family is like family to us.

At the time Lauren’s symptoms started, she was living and working in New York City as a video editor for The Dodo and as a personal trainer. She tried hard to push through but symptoms affected her ability to work and she continued to suffer a medical decline despite medication, as well as physical therapy, acupuncture, strict nutrition regimens and other mainstream and integrative therapies. Lauren’s symptoms progressed to include not only pain and fatigue, but nausea, visual changes, headaches, and vertigo. An MRI of her brain showed inflammation which has led to mental fogginess and challenges with memory and concentration. Lauren is unable to work. She and her parents spend their time and energy seeking doctors who can help. Finding a Lyme Literate Doctor, as well as one who is familiar with treating Mold Toxicity, is challenging. Lauren moved from New York to California where medicine tends to be more progressive as she was open to exploring a combination of Eastern and Western therapies, open to trying anything that could possibly help. Lauren has most recently taken on a course of treatment that includes intravenous and intramuscular antibiotics as often as four times per week, daily medication injections, and weekly Ozone Therapy. Ozone Therapy is a process where ozone gas is administered to your blood with the goal of stimulating the immune system and eradicating the Lyme bacteria to deal with her symptoms, but as a result of her treatment, she has now developed Candida and Methane SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) which has led to significant food intolerance and digestive issues. Lauren’s diet is currently limited to organic meat, wild-caught fish, organic squash, avocado and minimal berries-- that’s it. Imagine that? As a result of her digestive issues, her ability to tolerate the antibiotics that can help her has been affected which necessitates weekly intravenous vitamins and daily vitamin injections.

Chronic Lyme Disease is not recognized by the CDC and the majority of the care that Lauren needs and undergoes is not covered by insurance. Lauren has not been able to collect disability, so despite both of her parents working and making respectable salaries, they have incurred very significant expenses. Mark and Wilma have paid approximately $180,000 out of pocket and have incurred significant debt. Lauren’s current care costs approximately $10,000/month; there are not many families who can sustain this level of care. Lauren needs your support to relieve the financial burden that her care has placed on both her and her parents and to support her continued treatment which includes treating the SIBO, as well as the Lyme, other co-infections and Mold Toxicity.

To help you understand why her care is not covered, I encourage you to watch The Quiet Epidemic. This documentary can be found on Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video and is eye-opening.

The Quiet Epidemic

In the meantime, I am asking you to support Lauren in her quest to continue treatment in hopes to help her gain remission from the symptoms she is experiencing. Funds will go towards her current care as well as future treatments including stem cell therapy, peptide therapy and various other procedures being recommended by her medical team. The length of the treatments to come is unknown.

This GoFundMe was not created at the request of the Bilton family, but out of love for the Bilton family, with their blessing. The Biltons are private by nature and many do not know about their struggles. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I believe the power of community can make a profound difference in someone’s life. Please consider donating to help Lauren regain her health and quality of life. No donation is too small. Your generosity will be felt beyond words. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing her story so that more might be moved to help support Lauren while she is in acute need.