Flavios Lyme Fund

Flavio’s Story

I urge you to take a brief moment and read this heart wrenching story.  I am writing this on behalf of my Uncle Flavio, who is like a brother to me. Flavio is 38 years old and suffers from chronic Lyme disease. He does not have the ability or concentration to speak for himself and so today I am his voice. My name is Daniel Celsi and we are trying to find funding for Lyme disease which is not offered in Canada. He has spent over 20 years misdiagnosed.  He had a brain tumor removed when he was 21 and all the symptoms he started having thereafter were attributed to the brain tumor. I am going to list below as to how this all started and why he needs relief.

How It Began

At the age of 17 Flavio was in high school and began to feel very fatigued. He went to his family doctor who told him to take b12. He tried this but it did not help. His suffering still continued on through grade 12 and made it very hard for him to concentrate in math class. He began to receive headaches and insomnia regularly. When he was 20 years old he began a three year accounting program. At the end of his first year in college he began to have troubles with his short term memory. Severe anxiety attacks from his brain not functioning properly were also as issue. He would see the nurse but nothing would come of it. His headaches started to increase and symptoms began to get worse. Flavio decided to see a naturopath and the doctor told him he had Lyme Disease. Flavio was now 21 years old and decided to take a Canadian blood test which came back negative. Eventually he had cat scans and an MRI, where they diagnosed him with a benign brain tumour. He had the temporal lobe brain tumour removed but the same symptoms still occurred after surgery. He began to take anti-depressants and had seen at least 40 doctors and 20 specialists with no success of help. He spent all his money on supplements out of desperation. He has been on Adderall for the past five years as a stimulant to help with his fatigue.

Diagnosed with Lyme Disease

Flavio started to research his symptoms and found out that a lot of them matched Lyme disease. Keeping what the Naturopath had said in the back of his mind he had a hunch that he did have Lyme Disease. He researched specialized labs in the states and decided to send his blood to a clinic in California. The blood test came back with a positive reading for Lyme Disease.

Treatments

In November 2013 Flavio found a doctor in Windsor who looked at his blood work and was still doubtful about the Lyme disease but put him on antibiotics. In April 2014 he was prescribed a drug called Rocephin for five months and it did nothing except actually making him worse. He started injecting vitamin c at 25 mg per day and b complex which seemed to help with the pain and neurological problems. He couldn’t afford to keep up with the injections so he went to see Dr. Crop in Toronto who is a retired Lyme disease doctor and began frequency treatments to kill the Lyme, he did nine treatments and symptoms got worse so he put an end to it.

How Lyme Disease Has Affected His Life

Overall Flavio has lost over 20 years of his life, has been unable to work, pursue dreams, achieve goals or have a normal lifestyle. He feels helpless every day and it has been emotionally draining. He is constantly dizzy, drained and fatigued. He has no mental energy and has skin manifestations, boils on his back, severe pain and burning sensations throughout his body. He has chronic headaches and his thought process is weak. He has a hard time speaking and socializing. Nothing helps the pain. He has not been able to pursue his accounting career and has instead been working for his father’s painting company part time. Because of this illness his relationship with his daughter has suffered. He still lives with his parents because he is not healthy enough to make it on his own. 

Sponaugle Wellness Institute

Throughout the years of researching specialists throughout North America Flavio came across the Sponaugle Wellness Institute. Dr. Sponaugle has been seen on Susan Summers, Dr. Phil, and NBC for treatment of Lyme Disease. Testimonials prove that this institute has helped a large number of people and does 90% natural IV treatments, which includes vitamin c and other ingredients. Dr. Sponaugle is not only a Lyme doctor but is also a brain specialist and has treated over 12,000 people with Lyme disease; he has a 92% success rate and has had more brain scans on Lyme than any other clinic in the United States. The treatment center is affordable compared to an average hospital stay which can be $1000’s per day. Sponaugle has made it reasonable and charges $3000 US dollars per week. Required treatment is five days a week, one to five hours a day, people have recovered in eight weeks and depending on your condition people have stayed for up to 12-16 weeks.

Conclusion

The Canadian government doesn’t treat Lyme disease properly and most of the time they dismiss it. People that actually suffer from it do not receive the proper treatment and are left to fend for themselves.

We are left with a 38 year old father, who cannot work and is on a disability pension.  He has exhausted the little income that he has on alternative treatments which has shown no promise.  He has no quality of life and spends his days praying and doing research.  He would give back ten fold if he was able to.  If God allows him the opportunity to feel better with treatment he wants to be a Lyme advocate for all the unheard voices and those that suffer silently. Please help me by helping him.

He used to laugh and be so full of life, but those days are gone.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do to hear that laughter and see the sparkle that motivated him to exist.