Lyme disease left me on the verge of suicide
TWO years ago, she was a busy young professional with a packed social diary.
But after being bitten by ticks twice within the space of two years, Yen Lau says her life has been destroyed by Lyme disease.
The 32-year-old, from Glasgow, says she has been through ‘unimaginable suffering’ and the debilitating condition has left her in so much pain that she has been forced to quit her job and is now housebound.
Her battle with the bacterial infection began in July 2017 after she was bitten on a camping trip at Loch Lomond. The lifemy threatening condition has led to severe weight loss, intense pain and at times has even left her wheelchair-bound.
Miss Lau, a former business manager, has issued a desperate fundraising bid for treatment at a clinic in Mexico, where she believes specialist care, including stem cell therapy, will help to rid her of the infection.
She said: ‘In the last two years I have not been able to work, not once able to run or jog, go on a night out, dance, exercise, drive car far, haven’t touched a drop of alcohol.’
Writing on her GoFundMe page, which aims to raise £25,000 for her treatment, she said: ‘The suffering I go through is truly unimaginable. I am not sure I have strength to go through this emotionally or physically again, to just live a quarter life, merely existing and waiting for a good moment to live a few hours once every few days.
‘If I am honest, after the second bite, I felt that suicide was my only way out. It is truly a hopeless position to be left in.’
Lyme disease, which is passed on through tick bites, causes rashes, flu-like symptoms and intense fatigue. It is also linked to severe conditions such as meningitis and heart failure.
Last week, figures revealed that the disease has spread rapidly in the UK – with 2,000 to 3,000 incidents each year and more than one in four infections in Scotland.
Miss Lau was bitten for a second time while at a retreat in Crete two months ago – the break had been intended to help her deal with her Lyme disease trauma.
She said the second bite has ‘chronically suppressed my immune system even further, affecting my organs’, and left her taking Parkinson’s medication, steroids and drugs for her heart and thyroid among others.
As of last night, Miss Lau had reached £3,500 of her £25,000 fundraising target.