Almonte woman launches trek for awareness about Lyme disease
Kristy Wood-Giles was infected with a devastating case of Lyme disease when she was bitten by ticks on a hiking trip five years ago.
On Saturday, the Almonte woman was back on the trails with a mission, launching the Ontario portion of her TransCanada Trek for Lyme.
About 40 supporters of all ages, all clad in lime-green T-shirts with sinister black ticks on the back, joined her for a three-kilometre stretch along the Ottawa River from the Canadian War Museum to an awareness event at city hall.
This time, the 44-year-old will be armed against the tiny ticks that can carry the bacteria that causes Lyme, coating her shoes and gear with permethrin and using a spray repellent Icaridin. They’re measures she thinks public health officials must do more to promote along with treatment with antibiotics.
“I’m that frustrated — I’m just going to start walking and talking,” Wood- Giles said with a smile before taking to the podium at VOCAL Ottawa 2018 organized by Voices of Canadians Against Lyme disease.
Some advocates for people with Lyme have been at odds with mainstream medical guidelines. WoodGiles, for example, is critical of guidelines that don’t prescribe treatment if a tick is attached for less than 24 hours or the bite was in an area where ticks are deemed to be at low risk of being infected.
“Prevention is great — there’s more we can be sharing with people — but it’s the treatment point where we have to get more awareness,” argued Wood- Giles, who is aiming to cover at least Ontario but says she still can only hike as much as her health allows.
The former triathlete is on the road to recovery after suffering cardiac symptoms, memory loss, exhaustion and weakness to the point her legs wouldn’t support her. She was unable to work and got to the point where she could barely walk.
Ottawa was declared a region at risk for Lyme disease a year ago after more than 20 per cent of ticks captured in 2016 carried the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Last year was a record-breaking year for reported cases of Lyme disease in Ottawa, with 168 cases reported by November, more than double the 74 cases reported in all of 2016. Symptoms include a rash that often looks like a bull’s-eye, fatigue and weakness, fever or chills, headache, muscle and joint ache and swollen lymph nodes.
Capital ward Coun. David Chernushenko, who sits on the city’s board of health, said that urgency to tackle Lyme disease is growing across the country. A warming climate is increasing black-legged ticks’ range and numbers.
“It’s already bad and it’s going to get worse,” he said. “With climate change, it’s only going to become a bigger issue.”