BILLIONAIRE’S FAMILY LAID LOW

tHE former Phones4U tycoon John Caudwell says he and 15 members of his family and their associnon, ex-wife Kathryn McFarlane and son Rufus — ates tested Rufus— positive includingwas healthyfor daughtersLyme boy diseaseuntil, Rebekah and Rhian-aged ten, he had a two years ago. panic attack, went on to develop ago oraphobia — a fear of open spaces — and spent the next ten years virtually bed-bound until Lyme disease was diagnosed in 2015, when he was 20. John, 64, believes his son’s mental health issues were due to undiagnosed Lyme disease.

‘all my five children were born healthy,’ he said at the time. ‘we are a healthy family which has been John turned believes into thea wreck disease by is Lymenot just transmitteddisease.’ by ticks but can be passed from a mother to her

unborn baby, by blood transfusions and even potentially by sex. He has since become a passionate campaigner, ploughing money into a charity, Caudwell LymeCo, to raise awareness of the disease and fund research into ‘the causes and how it is transmitted’.

He believes those with Lyme disease can develop co-infections, as the tick can pass on more than one type of bacteria.

Yet his family were tested in Germany, not with the standard NHS test for Lyme, and the NHS website on Lyme disease says: ‘A diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease is controversial. Experts do not agree on whether the condition exists.

‘In either case, there is no evidence to suggest people diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease can pass the condition on to others.’