In honor of Cinco de Mayo (tis' the day to sip on a drink with a lime garnish) and Lyme disease awareness month (May), as well as,TBT (throw back Thursday), I decided to walk down memory lane and post my Lyme disease challenge photo's taken from last summer (2015)! It was an amazing experience to educate musicians and a politician about how debilitating Lyme disease can be and share my story, as well as, educate what needs to be done in the legislative arena.
What is the Lyme Disease Challenge?
I want to say Thank You to everyone who participated in the Lyme disease challenge with me and for taking a bite out of Lyme Disease!
One of my favorite photo's! My good friend, Sean Hurwitz, guitarist for Enrique Iglesias and SmashMouth, taking the Lyme disease challenge post concert! Sean is so awesome for sharing the photo on his social media accounts to help spread awareness about Lyme disease. Check out my
interview with Sean Hurwitz. Sean is currently globe trotting the world, playing guitar at concerts or at home in LA, writing songs or recording!
Tonic band members, Emerson Hart and Dan Lavery were eager to take the Lyme disease challenge with me post concert at Tally Ho theatre. I had to walk to a neighboring Italian restaurant in Leesburg to fetch the limes! Tonic is currently recording the acoustic version of one of their favorite albums, "Lemon Parade."
Later that night, Mike Eisenstein, guitarist for Tonic, and I got to chatting and he rocked the Lyme disease challenge with me! Mike is currently working on writing and recording new songs with band members from Letters to Cleo, a band he played with in the 1990's.
Hello X Ambassadors! The band members, Sam Harris, Casey Harris, Adam Levine, and Noah Feldshuh, had a Lyme disease story of their own they shared with me and graciously took the Lyme disease challenge. They were so awesome to meet! Photo taken post concert at the 9:30 Club in DC. Check out their
upcoming tour dates! I'm looking forward to seeing them at Echostage on May 12th!
Andy Grammer wasn't sure what to think when I asked him to take the Lyme disease challenge prior to his Fresh FM concert at Tysons Corner! He went along with it and was super nice to say hello to! After the concert, Andy mingled with his fans and is a humble, gracious rockstar! His bandmates are super cool too! Check out the
Andy Grammer upcoming tour dates! I hope to see him at Merriweather post pavilion on August 20th!
After another Fresh FM concert, I chatted with Chet from the Legwarmers and he agreed to to take the Lyme disease challenge! Chet and his band were super fun to meet and I was dancing queen at their concert! If you haven't seen one of
The Legwarmers shows, then you need to attend one of their shows this summer!
Congressman Connolly was a special guest for the evening prior to the Fresh FM Legwarmers concert. I shared my story with him about how I've been living with this debilitating disease for 21 years! We spoke about treatment for Lyme disease and and how the CDC guidelines do not recognize chronic Lyme. I also spoke to Congressman Connolly about setting up educational/advocacy meetings in the community. Check out
Congressman Gerry Connolly website for legislative updates on Lyme legislation or contact him if you would like to help draft Lyme legislation. Congressman Connolly is a fantastic advocate for the Lyme disease community!
I look forward to continuing to spread awareness and education about Lyme disease! Lyme disease is an epidemic! My hope is that a cure will be found to heal the 300,000 plus of Americans battling Lyme disease (and every Lyme Warrior worldwide)! We have to continue the conversation in our communities to change the way we think about Lyme disease, how we diagnose and treat Lyme disease, and make it a priority to find a cure.
