Lyme disease sufferer not alone in fight
Motorcycle ride to help fund Port Colborne woman's stem cell treatment
The difficulty in diagnosing Lyme disease and the frighteningly few options for treatment often leave its victims alone.
On Saturday, though, Port Colborne's Melissa Mazzon-Duncan learned first-hand she is not alone — far from it.
Mazzon-Duncan was recently diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease following years of debilitating symptoms which were misdiagnosed as other ailments. Later this year, she will be going to a clinic in California to undergo a costly round of stem cell therapy, an expensive treatment that is not offered in Canada, in part because it's not universally accepted in medical circles.
The treatment has a reported success rate of 80 per cent and a price tag of $30,000, which only adds to the expenses Mazzon-Duncan and her husband, Aaron, have piled up because of loss of income and other medical costs.
This weekend, Mazzon-Duncan got a financial boost in the form of Melissa's Ride, a motorcycle fundraiser organized by Beamsville martial arts instructor Mike Cherwaty, a longtime friend of her parents.
As the bikes rolled in to H.H. Knoll park for a lunch hour stop along the peninsula-wide ride, onlookers could be forgiven for thinking they were in Port Dover on Friday the 13, as dozens of motorcycles filled the
parking lot.
Mazzon-Duncan, who met them at the park, said the show of support has been nothing short of incredible and that it's done more than help cover expenses — it's given her the strength to fight.
She said her symptoms, which often leave her feeling drained and bedridden, have diminished greatly recently, something she attributes a great deal to the positive energy around her.
"I haven't felt this strong in a really long time, and it's purely the brain and heart feeling the love and support I've been given," she said.
"Today I'm not alone at all, and it is an amazing feeling."
For his part, Cherwaty said the more he's learned about Lyme disease the more he's convinced about its status as a serious public health issue.
Nearly 1,000 cases were recorded by the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2016, up from 144 in 2009.
Meanwhile, diagnosis is inconsistent, and the disease can be difficult to treat if not detected shortly after infection, the most common way being bitten by an infected tick.
Cherwaty said more needs to be done, and he hopes his efforts at the very least raise awareness.