“A man walks into a bar – no, wait, this is no joke. A man walks into a clinic with an embedded, engorged tick, a tender, one-inch red rash forming around it. He is not offered treatment because the tick was attached less than 24 hours.”

So begins a really informative column by Emily Bracale that anyone concerned about Lyme disease should read – and that’s all of us, isn’t it?

Emily continues, “He doesn’t want to argue, is afraid antibiotics would mess with his gut anyway and goes home. This is the beginning of many people’s story of how ‘early stage’ Lyme became chronic.”

Emily notes that people share their stories with her every day, seeking advice, partly because she has suffered greatly from Lyme, and also because she’s been studying, writing, designing and teaching curriculum about it for 8 years.

“It isn’t a fun hobby,” she says, “but I continue to do it because my heart calls me to it.”

And we should be grateful for that. I encourage you to read all of Emily’s column which was published in the Mount Desert Islander in June.

You can access the column here.