Alison Smith

For the last seven years I have devoted all of my time and energy to reclaiming my health after totally losing it to Lyme Disease: a systemic bacterial infection contracted from the bite of a poppy-seed sized tick.

Seven years ago I was a workaholic PhD student, who spent all of her time at the gym, training for the Chicago marathon. I ate cake for dinner or whole French baguettes slathered with peanut butter and butter (yes…a double butter whammy), and I drank copious cups of coffee. I loved my sugary, frantic, social butterfly existence. I had absolutely nothing to worry about. My life was galloping along, and I was embracing every minute of it. And then, like a buff of smoke, my health disappeared. And, my entire life changed.