I was on Zoom a few weeks ago at the Celebration of Life service for Pat Smith, longtime president of the Lyme Disease Association and veteran of the Lyme Wars who died in August. The quiet gathering of family, old friends and colleagues was a contrast to the whirlwind that was Pat’s life in the Lyme disease world.
Partnership with LymeDisease.org
Over the years, LymeDisease.org developed an extraordinary and dynamic working partnership with Pat Smith. She first popped up on our radar when the Lyme Disease Association of New Jersey (LDANJ) recruited her as their president in 1997. At the time, LymeDisease.org published a newsprint version of the Lyme Times, covering patient advocacy, politics, science and research, which we distributed across the US.
We introduced Pat to our readers as a mom of three, two of whom had Lyme disease. In later years, we would hear in excruciating detail the experience of the Smith family as they sought help for their very ill daughters. No one who heard Pat speak of it could ever have forgotten it. I believe that experience was at the center of what drove Pat.
The Movement Goes National
Pat increasingly turned her attention to national events, as did we. Her organization dropped the NJ to become Lyme Disease Association and LymeDisease.org became an official affiliate of the LDA in 2002. We linked arms and became close working partners.
Alongside Time for Lyme, a Connecticut nonprofit, we worked on early versions of federal legislation to increase funding for Lyme disease and establish an advisory committee. I asked Pat for a regular report of LDA activities to print in every issue of our Lyme Times. It was hard to keep her down to one page. ……….Join or login below to continue reading.
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