Meeting today with Member of Parliament, Kyle Seeback

Posting after a full month of hiatus from the blog, dealing with a heap of extra work, overtime, trying to learn new stuff, and working on a new international project. Thank you if you still stopped by the blog despite a lack of updates.

Today's heat wilted us again, added tornado warnings for an area around us, and had everyone seeking the coolness of air conditioning. I've got pictures taken inside the car, with temps registering 39 C (Monday) and 44 C (Tuesday). All our igloos have melted .... But we are promised relief in the next few days.

We had another form of relief as well, during a meeting this morning in Brampton, Ontario. I'm not at liberty to give all the details yet, but there will be follow-up very soon, and I believe that promise!

Thanks to City Councillor John Sanderson, who arranged for a meeting with MP Kyle Seeback, five of us met today to discuss the problems around Lyme Disease, lack of doctors to treat, patients being set adrift and not enough warnings put out for the general public. The bottom line is still that early diagnosis and treatment usually help to control the disease. If allowed to spread, the cost on all levels can be debilitating.

John Sanderson, me, Kyle Seeback, Rossana, and Kim

Mr. Seeback was very supportive. He knew a little about the plight of Lyme patients, but was suitably shocked and upset about the fact that we are not able to get treatment in Canada, that doctors are sent "on vacation" and that we have to seek help elsewhere. He agreed that we have to get the Federal government on board. He was also aware of the Private Member's Bill being brought forward by Elizabeth May to ask for a National Lyme Disease Strategy.

Rossana, who lost her husband to Lyme Disease and has been an outspoken advocate for years, talked about the new foundation she founded in his name and about what is being planned there. The hope is that the research facility will be open in 2015. [ If you missed that post, here is more, under the heading "New Foundation for Vector-Borne Diseases".]

Kim and I have both been sick with Lyme Disease for years, visited many doctors and specialists in Canada and found no help or correct diagnosis. Eventually we both had to seek treatment in the USA, pay out of pocket, spent years in treatment and still have to deal with the devastating results of the disease running rampant in our bodies for years before that. We are both now in remission. Rossana, Kim and I all and receive emails every week from people who are newly infected with nowhere to turn.

This will stop. But it might take Superman to help us!

Young Evan in his Superman shirt, admiring the Lyme Mobile

BREAKFAST AT APPLEBEE'S on SATURDAY
If you are in the area near the west end of Toronto, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Brampton, Caledon (Counties of Peel, Caledon and Halton Hills), please let me know if you still want a ticket for breakfast at Applebee's on Saturday morning! We have the place to ourselves between 8 am and 10 am. A ticket will buy you a short stack of pancakes with trimmings, bacon, coffee, tea or juice. For each ticket sold, 70% will be donated to the cause of Lyme Disease awareness. Email me through the Contact button above; there are still some tickets available.

Successful meeting with Member of Parliament

Another exciting day ... Joe and I just met with the Honourable David Tilson, MP for Caledon-Dufferin.
We found him supportive, but careful.

He was gracious and friendly -- and like most people horrified to learn more about Lyme Disease. I appreciated the fact that he apologized for asking basic questions, and for not knowing more - but nobody can know everything, right? He has met some constituents before, mostly in informal settings, who spoke about Lyme Disease, so he knows it is in the region.

Joe, David Tilson and Marlene

He will read and investigate some more. His big question was, "What can the Federal government do to help or fix this issue?"

He also asked the picture of the three of us to be sent to his office, for inclusion in his next newsletter.

There are some other points we're working on and will report back in the near future.
So grateful for the time and the ear!

National Lyme Strategy Petition is ready!

** Updated: The links to 4Shared were giving trouble, so please click on link #2 below for another place to find Elizabeth May's petition in PDF format.

***UPDATED Nov 2012: We now also have a petition from Tory David Tilson, M.P. (Dufferin-Caledon)! Let me know if you want a copy to collect and send in signatures. It asks for a National Strategy as well. Email to ask for David Tilson's petition.

ELIZABETH MAY'S PETITION
So grateful and excited! I've been in regular touch with the office of Elizabeth May, MP, about the petition to ask for a National Strategy dealing with Lyme Disease. Since we were planning another information booth at SouthFields Community Day tomorrow, I was hoping it would be ready.

And --- guess what - here it is! Just received after 2pm today, approved by the House of Commons. We can print, have friends and family sign and share according to the instructions printed on every page!
Please link this blog page to your blog or your Facebook, or Twitter, in order for others to share and download the same document. Print, read info and collect signatures. Choose one of the three links that works for you. The first one is on 4Shared for those who have accounts there. The #2 link is on an outside website. The #3 link should be accessible to most others. Hit the green "Download" button on the page that will open: (a) #1 link to Download Petition or (b)  #2 link to Download Petition  or (c) #3 link to Download Petition.

Let's go! If we can use the next few weeks to get copies of the petition signed and sent in, we can hit the ground running in September. Please remember that only people who live in Canada are allowed to sign the petition, but feel free to share with friends who might be in contact with others here!