~Jada's Cure~
Finding Treatment for a Beautiful Little Lady!

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Jada's Story!


I would like to share with you my daughter's story...

    Six year old Jada was bitten by a deer tick on April 14, 2013, in North Idaho. Ticks are common here. We go to the woods, come home, find a tick and remove it. No Big Deal! Lyme Disease simply does not exist in North Idaho... Or so we thought! Jada's mom and dad were raised in this county and have never heard of someone contracting Lyme Disease from a tick here. (We had heard of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Montana, but again not here in Idaho.) Growing up we always heard, "There is no Lyme Disease here, that is an East Coast thing!" Unfortunately, that isn't true. Ticks that carry disease (all ticks actually) know no boundaries! With in 24 hours of that early spring hike; Jada became very ill, we thought she had the flu. But, her neck hurt too, and she had swollen lymph nodes, swollen to the size of a golf ball in two spots on her neck. She also had an extremely high fever, muscle aches, headache, vision changes (blurred and light sensitivity), fatigue, lethargy, nerve pain up and down her legs, cold sweats and pain everywhere.
    I found a tick in her hair on day 4 of the illness attached just above her right ear, it had a strange red bull's eye shaped rash around it! So, we put peroxide on it and removed the tick, (peroxide is a good thing!) We did not know that Jada actually had the symptoms of early onset Lyme disease. We took her to our family doctor. We showed him the lymph nodes and her red throat. Again, we thought it was the flu! We did NOT mention that tick to the doctor that day. We did not get her tested for Lyme; as Lyme disease "doesn't exist" in North Idaho. We tested for mono... Negative, we ran cbc's... with only a couple of high numbers (and not too high) it just looked liked an infection. We did a course of an antibiotic generally used for mono, no change. We did a course of amoxicillon (standard 14 days). This time there was "some" improvement. The fever and sore throat seemed to go away. She no longer had the "flu like symptoms" that are common with so many bacteria and viruses. The swollen lymph nodes began to recede. (Though today that is still a prevailing symptom)
    However as four long, painful months passed, our sweet daughter Jada kept getting sicker, losing her energy, losing her child-like joy, losing that beautiful glitter in her eyes. Jada began losing her appetite and at times refused to eat solid foods, causing her little 6/7 year old body to lose nearly 10 pounds in just 6 months, her cheek bones began to protrude a little and she had dark circles around her eyes, and a flushed appearance all the time. All summer Jada was having strange pains, vision changes including blurred vision and bouts of severe light sensitivity, sleep disturbances, waking (her and us) up in the middle of the night crying out in pain with no remedy, complaining of "little bugs" under her skin, or bees stinging her (when there were no bees), severe headaches, body aches, nerve pain (explained as electricity) and tingling sensations all over, dizzy spells, 3 day high (104+) fevers each month near the full moon, everyday a new pain would come up; as her brothers and sisters had fun running, playing, swimming, riding their bikes, being happy healthy kids with out care, Jada sat idly by on the side lines curled in a blanket when it was 90 degrees outside watching her 4 siblings, saying "I am just tired momma" or "no, I don't wanna play". (Very uncharacteristic for our once vibrant and healthy child) Every night Jada would scream out in pain, waking up to severe pain all over her body, crying she would seek comfort at mom and dad's bedside. No matter what we did, it offered little or no comfort, the pains just wouldn't stop. We would take Jada in to the Doctor, he would find nothing wrong. Occasionally he would order blood work if I pushed hard enough that looked as though she had a viral infection that would soon clear. "No big deal" they would tell us. We ran autoimmune tests and CBC's, with no answers. We were lost, trying to figure out if our child was truly sick (as she didn't "look sick" all the time, or was she simply having growing pains and in need of some more attention in this big family, or maybe she really had something wrong that we were missing all together. We weren't connecting these symptoms to the tick bite back in April. Jada had yet another extremely high fever (104.5 for 3 full days) in August 2013, this time with several of the other symptoms so severe she couldn't move from the couch, so we again took her into the doctor. After all the blood work we had done, and all the doctor visits that had produced nothing, finally at the prompting of a friend, told the Doctor about the tick and he had her tested for Lyme Disease.
    On Jada's 7th birthday, the blood work came back and we found out she is positive for the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease! The ELISA showed a high positive for Borrelia Burgdorferi. The Western Blot however only showed 1 positive band... Band 41. It is still unknown if Jada had any indeterminate bands on that particular WB, as most labs here in the US do not report indeterminate bands. We were then told that band 41 was not enough to diagnose Lyme, even with the positive ELISA, the Bull's Eye rash, and the other clinical symptoms that our daughter so obviously had. Lyme Disease, we knew after just a little bit of research was a debilitating, incurable, painful, and for many hopeless disease.
    After months of hearing our family doctor tell us, "well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't Lyme I can't help you other than to say she will be fine, she has had a course of the CDC recommended antibiotics, she isn't CDC positive, I'm sorry, you should see an Infectious disease doctor" even with those positive tests and continuing symptoms, he could not treat due to CDC regulations! The Infectious Disease doctors for 200 miles refused to see our daughter, because she was not a "CDC Positive". We went to a local doctor and were told the same thing and told to take her off the immune boosting supplements she was on (e.g. children's multi's, d3, omegas and echinacea) and also told "the important thing is to let her 'just be a kid', you have a large family she is probably attention seeking".
    In December 2013, we finally chose to seek a practitioner familiar with treating Lyme and familiar with ILADS and uses their protocols to treat Lyme and it's co-infections. At that point finding a doctor willing to treat a 7 year old child was nearly impossible. We continued to have faith and seek. We finally found a doctor 450 miles from our home who would treat our daughter. At our first appointment we were told "your daughter definitely has Lyme, in fact, she has Chronic Lyme Disease, and she has a long road to recovery given the amount of time you waited to seek appropriate treatment for Lyme Disease" (nearly one year from the tick bite.) He said "Lyme is like Cancer, it hides behind your immune system and tears down your body undetected. Like cancer treatment, Lyme treatment is going to make your daughter very ill, we have to kill the immune system to find and destroy the Lyme. Had your doctor followed a better treatment regimen so many months ago, your daughter would have been fine, however she now suffers from Chronic Lyme Disease and we will do all we can to help her heal and reverse the damage that this has caused in her little body." He also said "Unfortunately, at the point Lyme goes chronic, it absolutely Can NOT be cured. At best, we will put it into remission. However, be aware that many things can cause a relapse such as, diet, stress both emotional and physical, illness such as the flu, vaccines, re-transmission by another tick, etc. You will need to be vigilant in keeping your daughter stress-free and illness free, and no matter what Keep Her On The Diet! Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free, Processed Food Free."
    We ran more blood work. Jada is now CDC positive for Lyme Disease. It was 6 months between lab tests. We began treatment right away. We use an herbal protocol with short bouts of antibiotics, as Jada is overly sensitive to the antibiotics. Jada's immune system is compromised because of Lyme Disease. Our entire household takes extra precaution to make sure that Jada's exposure to bacterias and viruses is minimal.
     Today, 18 months after infection, Jada is slowly returning to her "pre-Lyme" self, as much as is possible. She is able to go to school again, though she does have to skip a day every week or other week as she just gets exhausted, emotionally and physically. She is on a strict diet and medicine protocol. At 8 years old she spends several days a week focusing on treatment and detox. She reads food labels, awesome, right? ~She's ONLY 8!!! Jada is becoming very vigilant about taking her health into her own hands, although she doesn't always understand "why", why she can't do or have this or that, why she must do or have this or that. Why can't she just be "normal", like all the other third graders? Everyday we get up, we do protocol, we do supplements, we do pills, we do sprays, we focus on detox, we focus on healthy choices, we focus on finding the positive in this whole thing. Every evening, we focus on rest and detox and protocol and supplements and sprays and 'is it going to help or harm?'. We focus on reading and math, two subjects she was ahead in, during kindergarten and first grade, she is now struggling with on a comprehension level. We are considering support classes for a young child who once helped other children. We focus on emotions, and emotional control. We talk about the anger and the disconnect, and the resentment. We have had to seek counseling services to help her work through the emotional trauma of being chronically ill. And when the day is done, we thank the Lord for one more day of feeling better and we ask for one more day tomorrow to start it all over again.

My Journal Entry from February 2014, nearly one year after Jada was bitten~
Today, Jada is a beautiful, happy little girl. As with many Lyme patients you wouldn't know at first glance that she is sick. Many days Jada is very good at pushing through her pain to just feel "normal". Her joints are swollen (where the Lyme has settled) and painful. She has an incredible amount of pain through-out her body, especially her legs. Headaches are frequent. Nerve surges are frequent. She tries to push through the fatigue, but some days she just can't. Dizziness is becoming a daily battle, she nearly passed-out in Walmart yesterday, thankfully I caught her. Cognitively she forgets words that she has known forever such as colors, names of people, items, foods. When we do math she struggles at times, other times she does great. We have had to withdraw her from public school as she is unable to tolerate a full day and a full week. She misses her friends and her teacher. Her scalp is very tender around the bite site, the little girl that used to love braids and pony tails by mom, won't hardly let her hair be brushed because of the pain surrounding her head and neck, especially near the site of the tick bite. We cut her hair before school started, maybe we should go shorter? Her lymph nodes are swollen, due to the lack of antibiotic treatment. Doctors in our area are simply not Lyme literate, therefore they will not treat her beyond the 10 day antibiotic prescribed for most bacterial infections. We have to travel 450 miles to seek treatment for her from a Lyme physician. What if it doesn't work? Then what? Will she be in a wheelchair soon? I don't know... Why her? Why didn't I know? Why? Our local doctor said he would help over-see her treatment as necessary and is willing to partner with us to restore her to optimal health. The fundraiser gave us enough for the first trip. God, I hope the weather holds out, more storms are coming. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives!


Now our beautiful little daughter had such a horrible diagnosis.~ TIME TO FIND A CURE!! 

Early Symptoms of Lyme Disease in Children:
Early Symptoms;
  • Flu-like illness (fever, muscles aches, fatigue, nausea and joint pain)
  • Rash (10% have EM rash)
  • Bell’s palsy (one side of face droops)
Later Symptoms;
  • Headache
  • Stiff neck
  • Light or sound sensitivity
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Uncharacteristic behavior
  • Inability to sustain attention
  • Outbursts & mood swings
  • Arthritis
  • Fatigue
  • Abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea
  • Chest pain, palpitations
  • Shortness of breath
  • Tingling, burning or shooting pains

Early Symptoms of Lyme Disease in Adults:
Early Symptoms;
  • Flu-like illness (fever, chills, sweats, muscles aches, fatigue, nausea and joint pain)
  • Rash (10% have EM rash)
  • Bell’s palsy
Later Symptoms;
  • Headache
  • Stiff neck
  • Light or sound sensitivity
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Sleep disturbance
  • Depression, anxiety, or mood swings
  • Arthritis
  • Fatigue
  • Abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea
  • Chest pain, palpitations
  • Shortness of breath
  • Tingling, burning or shooting pains





Example of a tick with EM (Bull's Eye) rash around bite.
EM rash does NOT always look like a bull's eye. This rash can look different on different people, and can come in many shapes and sizes anywhere on the body, not just around the bite site.