The Benefits of Friends

I know typically when someone begins a new blog, they preface everything with an initial entry to give a back story. I'm not very typical when it comes to most things, so I'm going to skip right over that. After all, if you're really interested in a prologue, you can always check out the My Story section of the Lemon & Lyme website. There, you'll find everything from my treatment regimen to why I first began to suspect I had Lyme.

So, instead of introducing myself, I'm going to jump right into chronicling my activities. A large part of why now is the time I'm finally deciding to keep a blog is because I wanted an appropriate forum to express what I experienced on Monday night. It was so amazing and uplifting, that I needed to share.

A good friend and fellow Lyme-fighter in my area held a benefit to raise funds and help pay for her treatment. During the weeks leading up to the event, I spent a good chunk of time emailing back and forth with her and doing whatever I could to help, though that was mainly sitting in my room and designing posters and signs in Photoshop.

I also made her a few exclusive T-Shirts (the Shop section of the site will be opening later this month! If you haven't voted yet, please do so!) A couple were hers to keep, and those she knew about ahead of time. However, she had also pushed me to make a bunch of extras as well, to sell at the benefit. Without telling her, I decided I would donate all the profits from the night to her cause.

I waited until I got there to tell her this, and I'm glad I did, because the look on her face was priceless. The best part was that I was not the only person who had pulled some kind of stunt like this. By the time I had arrived, the venue she and her sisters had rented was already packed with people! Though there were a grand total of five Lyme patients there, there were too many green shirts and dresses to count. Little girls ran around the dance floor with lime green ribbons in their hair, matching ruffles on their skirts.

It was such an enormous congregation of support, love, and understanding. Each one of them was there to give support to her in any and every way they could. Even better was seeing what genuinely caring supportive people these were, as they expressed true interest and concern in the cases of complete strangers (like myself) who they discovered also had Lyme. It was so heartwarming to know that these were the kind of people who surrounded her in her time of need.

Everyone there was so willing to learn all they could and spread the message as far and wide as possible. I only wish that every individual afflicted with this grueling condition could be blessed with friends and family like this. Because of all the stories I hear of those struggling to survive on their own, it was just so wonderful to see someone getting what they needed from so many loved ones.