After my daughter Rachel and I wrote a book about our family’s experience with Lyme disease, we were gratified to be interviewed on several Lyme-related podcasts. These included Tick Boot Camp, Love-Hope-Lyme, and Dr. Richard Horowitz’s Healing Lyme Summit, among others.

These platforms allowed us to discuss our story with hosts who really identified with our experiences. We felt that these conversations helped us connect with our intended audience of Lyme patients and their families in a meaningful way.

Recently, though, we had the chance to be on a different type of podcast, not geared towards people with Lyme disease—and it was satisfying, too.

Let’s Talk Memoir

“Let’s Talk Memoir,” hosted by writer and editor Ronit Plank, features interviews with memoirists discussing their writing. It focuses on the process of crafting an engaging book out of often-traumatic experiences and how authors must navigate the challenge of telling their stories without re-traumatizing themselves along the way.

It was a different way to talk about Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease. Our book draws much of its source material from the journal my daughter kept from age 13-16, the hardest years of her illness. I believe that the emotional support she received from writing in that journal almost daily for three years was essential to her healing. Yet, revisiting some of those pages years later was difficult.

Rachel told Ronit that once she started writing the book, she needed frequent breaks from the intense material. “I’d turn on really upbeat music and do a dance party…because [otherwise] I’d get tunnel vision and be back in a place I didn’t want to be back in.”

Ultimately, however, writing this book was a positive experience for both of us. I believe there is power in telling stories of healing and resilience—and that both the writer and the reader benefit from the process.

This is especially true for those with Lyme disease—a group still too often dismissed by the medical establishment. By opening up about our journey, Rachel and I not only deepened our connection as mother and daughter, but we also provided hope and validation to others facing similar challenges. Through narratives like this, we can all find strength and solidarity.

Click below to listen to our interview on “Let’s Talk Memoir.” You can also listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease and of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.