Gloria Kim, a mother of three from New Jersey, fell into the Lyme world when her son was bitten by a tick at a young age.

As a result, her family has been dealing with chronic Lyme and co-infections for the last 14 years. And as she learned early on, Lyme disease affects the whole family—not just the ones who are sick.

“As a caretaker, I worked tirelessly to keep my son alive and was constantly in a state of despair, isolation and survival,” she recalls.

“As much as I wanted to be there for my other two healthy children and husband, the struggle of saving my son overwhelmed me and I lost myself.”

She understands the “difficulty, frustration, sadness and anger” of being a Lyme caregiver, she says.

To help others, she has created a weekly online support group to help bring connection and community to people in this situation–and to help them rediscover joy.

One of the things that Gloria said really helped her and her family was to find ways to laugh together. Here’s something she recently posted on her Facebook page.

Learn more at the Families For Joy website.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s Vice-president and Director of Communications. She is co-author of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.