Wednesday, May 15, 2013

A week of Lyme Disease Awareness events

Phew! What a week is the week that was! I tried to post updates, but that didn't happen. So here is a short summary.
Actually, it started late in April, with a meeting at the Brampton City Council to receive the official proclamation of Lyme Disease Awareness Month. Friend and staunch supporter Joe went with me.
Tweeted by the Mayor, Susan Fennell, while addressing Council. 

Formal picture taking afterwards
On May 2, This story was printed in the Brampton Guardian on May 2, 2013. Lead-in for Lyme Awareness. Dogs can get treated in Canada for Lyme, humans not .... http://www.bramptonguardian.com/print/1602126

Jenni, who designed our tick, and I in 2012
The story was picked up all around North America, in some two dozen or more publications and online news webs.

May 3-5 was filled with a Lyme Disease awareness table at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. Three days, talking to hundreds of people, handing out brochures, collecting signatures and helping people to know that the disease is out there. What was very scary, is that of the about 500 people who stopped to talk, only about 20 didn't know about the disease. All the rest either had Lyme themselves and struggled to get a diagnosis or treatment, or they had a very close family member with Lyme disease. This is a huge change from two years ago, when maybe one in four people I talked to, knew about Lyme disease.

CanLyme table at the RBG Home Show

May 6 - a meeting with a group of lady friends, all supportive of the struggles we Lymies experience. There were 8 of us, and all of us wearing Lyme ribbons for awareness!

Green Ribbon supporters
May 7 - CARP, the organization for Canadians as we age, is a group I've belonged to for some years. Yes, I'm over 50! They had a meeting in Brampton to start a new chapter and Moses Znaimer was going to be there. I attended - fully intending to get the ear of whoever was willing to listen. Got talking to Susan Eng, Vice President for Advocacy at CARP. I'll follow up for sure. (Blog post

I'm sure more things happened on May 8 and 9, but then on May 10, we went off to Whitby to listen to Dr. Ernie Murakami and to spend the night at the house of LymeSavers president, Kevin and his family. There were about 120 people who came to listen, ask questions, give feedback and share stories. 


The LymedOut blogger in person! 

Dr. Ernie, sports fan, watching hockey in a Blue Jays jersey
Then of course, the next morning started with my husband finding the huge tick on a dog, and us removing it. That post is on this blog if you haven't seen it. The ticks are out there! Please be aware! 

May 11 was cold and windy --- but the LymeSavers were out in force for the first event of the new charity!
Pictures will follow. 

Dinner in Toronto, then off to the CN Tower to see the green lights, as you have seen on this blog. 
Sunday - Mother's Day here -- I spent resting and enjoying a dinner later as prepared by my family! Thanks, guys, all of you! I only asked for ice cream and we went out to enjoy a bit of 31 flavours. 

And today --- just before diving into the Brampton Lyme Disease Awareness Day and the green lights on the Falls, I've just had confirmation that Calgary's Langevin bridge will turn green! The lights will be on from midnight on Friday to sunrise, and again from dark on Saturday to midnight. Hope Lymies in Calgary can be out in force! 

Calgary's Langevin Bridge will go green! 
Their Facebook page will post about the green lights on the bridge, and I believe there will be Twitter messages as well. I've asked them to include the #lymeprotest and #lymeaction on Twitter for us to pick up and send on. 

All in all, an exciting week!

See you on Friday at the green lights on Niagara Falls, and on Saturday in Brampton for the second Lyme Awareness Day!






2 comments:

PM said...

So much going on, and you, Marlene, are at the heart of it! Thank you for all you do!

♥ Lymies everywhere

MeerkatMarlene said...

Thanks, Paula, but I'm just one small part of a groundswell of awareness! So many are working along. All over the USA, there were awareness events last weekend, for instance. Hopefully things will change soon.

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