Help Steve overcome Lyme disease
Donation protected
Hi Guys. I’m Steve and I’m setting this page up to help raise the funds for me to continue with my treatment of chronic Lyme disease.
Most of my close friends are aware that I’ve been dealing with worsening health for the past 4 ½ years but only a few people really know how sick I’ve become. It’s been an ongoing and regular decline to a very debilitating situation that’s meant I’ve had to give up my life in Australia, where I had a successful job as an IT consultant, and move back to the UK to live with my folks.
As I was packing up ready to leave Australia around August last year it was mentioned to me by a functional GP in Melbourne that I could have chronic or late stage Lyme disease. Up to that point all the tests and treatments I’d tried had all been orientated around my worsening gastric symptoms.
I’d been bitten by a tick in 1990 and had been quite ill for a few weeks afterwards but had never given it another thought or made any connections to the health issues I was currently dealing with. However, much like the Australian health system Medicare, the NHS does not recognise this disease. The blood tests that both Medicare and the NHS use are generally only useful for acute Lyme following a tick bite. I’ve traversed both the Australian and UK national health systems as well as many types of alternative practitioners looking for answers and have spent well over $45,000 so far on all sorts of tests and treatments. I’ve seen multiple GPs, consultants, specialists, acupuncturists and naturopaths.
I’ve recently found a private Lyme specialist in London and all the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. We’ve established a protocol for me to work towards regaining my health and I’ve been following this for the last 2 months with a very slight improvement in my symptoms. However she’s left me under no illusion that this will not be a quick fix as I’ve had the underlying Lyme bugs in my system for almost the last 30 years.
Unfortunately, chronic Lyme disease is incredibly expensive to treat firstly because the NHS doesn’t provide any therapy for the advanced stages of this disease and secondly it seems the reasons it becomes chronic are unique to each person, thus requiring a completely personalised approach.
As my savings will soon disappear, I am incredibly anxious about the future, especially how to meet the increasingly expensive treatments I need to get better. I’m hoping, with your support, to raise enough money to continue working with the Lyme specialist and to continue purchasing all supplements and medications for the next 12 months.
If I can focus on my health for the next 12 months, and continue working with the specialist, I hope I will be able to return to work in 2019, I have a couple of projects I feel excited about, I just need to be back on my feet to tackle them head on.
Not all my friends know that I used to run a record label in London called Smitten, which specialised in acid techno. Chris Liberator has created a 2hr mix of a lot of the tunes from back in those days, which will be available to download for anyone who donates £5 or more. A downloadable link will be emailed out within 24 hours of your donation.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, any help whatsoever will be massively appreciated!
Most of my close friends are aware that I’ve been dealing with worsening health for the past 4 ½ years but only a few people really know how sick I’ve become. It’s been an ongoing and regular decline to a very debilitating situation that’s meant I’ve had to give up my life in Australia, where I had a successful job as an IT consultant, and move back to the UK to live with my folks.
As I was packing up ready to leave Australia around August last year it was mentioned to me by a functional GP in Melbourne that I could have chronic or late stage Lyme disease. Up to that point all the tests and treatments I’d tried had all been orientated around my worsening gastric symptoms.
I’d been bitten by a tick in 1990 and had been quite ill for a few weeks afterwards but had never given it another thought or made any connections to the health issues I was currently dealing with. However, much like the Australian health system Medicare, the NHS does not recognise this disease. The blood tests that both Medicare and the NHS use are generally only useful for acute Lyme following a tick bite. I’ve traversed both the Australian and UK national health systems as well as many types of alternative practitioners looking for answers and have spent well over $45,000 so far on all sorts of tests and treatments. I’ve seen multiple GPs, consultants, specialists, acupuncturists and naturopaths.
I’ve recently found a private Lyme specialist in London and all the pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place. We’ve established a protocol for me to work towards regaining my health and I’ve been following this for the last 2 months with a very slight improvement in my symptoms. However she’s left me under no illusion that this will not be a quick fix as I’ve had the underlying Lyme bugs in my system for almost the last 30 years.
Unfortunately, chronic Lyme disease is incredibly expensive to treat firstly because the NHS doesn’t provide any therapy for the advanced stages of this disease and secondly it seems the reasons it becomes chronic are unique to each person, thus requiring a completely personalised approach.
As my savings will soon disappear, I am incredibly anxious about the future, especially how to meet the increasingly expensive treatments I need to get better. I’m hoping, with your support, to raise enough money to continue working with the Lyme specialist and to continue purchasing all supplements and medications for the next 12 months.
If I can focus on my health for the next 12 months, and continue working with the specialist, I hope I will be able to return to work in 2019, I have a couple of projects I feel excited about, I just need to be back on my feet to tackle them head on.
Not all my friends know that I used to run a record label in London called Smitten, which specialised in acid techno. Chris Liberator has created a 2hr mix of a lot of the tunes from back in those days, which will be available to download for anyone who donates £5 or more. A downloadable link will be emailed out within 24 hours of your donation.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story, any help whatsoever will be massively appreciated!
Organizer and beneficiary
Elisa Merlo
Organizer
England
Steve Smitten
Beneficiary