When Lyme patient/advocate Liz Karkoff, of Tarrytown, NY, recently read that Lyme is one of the “Top 25” most censored news stories of 2011, she decided to do something to change that. She contacted a local reporter, who published a story about her Lyme experience and the difficulties of getting properly diagnosed. She encourages other people in small towns to do the same.

Here’s the story that ran in the Daily Harrison:

Harrison Neighbor Urges Lyme Disease Awareness

by Phil Corso

HARRISON, N.Y. – Liz Karkoff said she’d already felt sick for years before she was first officially diagnosed with Lyme disease in September of 2009. Years later, she still takes medication to make sure she’s symptom-free.

“I don’t like to take too much medicine, but I still need to take antibiotics so I don’t relapse for a second time,” Karkoff said. “Thankfully now, I feel fine.”

But Karkoff said “feeling fine” wasn’t something she had the privilege to say in the past several years. As she continues her long battle with the effects of Lyme disease, Karloff said she’s become more aware and active about the illness.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s VP for Education and Outreach. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.