Amelia’s Story
Amelia, Author of UNACCEPTABLE: Another Day Lost to Lyme Disease
“It started with a cardiac crisis. I was in my thirties, not anxious or stressed, about to embark on a hiking trip in Hawaii. I’d been a lifelong athlete—but one minute I was fit and healthy, and the next I was lying incapacitated on the floor. Jerking, vibrating, stumbling, weeping.
And then my life spiraled even further out of control. In the coming weeks, I lost the ability to chew, speak, or smile. I lost the ability to walk. All the while, the doctors couldn’t explain a thing, and most of my friends and family faded away.
At a loss on my own, I turned to books, blogs, social media, and research. I found connection, as well as some new direction. Still unable to speak aloud, I started writing my own story as an attempt to unravel the mystery of my health.
It went on for years like that. Years of being disabled and isolated. Years of trying different doctors, tests, and treatments. Years of writing. And with each attempt to regain my health, I found hope—and lost it all again.
Now, seven years later, I believe it was that connection through reading and writing that ultimately saved me. And so, I published my medical memoir as a way of paying that forward.
My story was indeed UNACCEPTABLE.
But now I know: We can be unstoppable as one.”
Stories reflect the experiences and perspectives of the individuals featured and are not intended as medical advice.
