TOUCHED BY LYME: After “Rambo daughter” succumbs to Lyme, dad dedicates himself to teaching others
He called Lori his "Rambo daughter," a strong athletic soldier who liked to run marathons. But after a tick bite gave her Lyme disease none of this dad's efforts could save her life. Now, he channels his grief into educating others about how to prevent the spread of tick-borne illnesses.
Before Lori Camille Merrill got sick, she was a strong and active person. She served in the US Army and won physical fitness awards. Her parents called her their “Rambo daughter.” But things started changing after 2000, after she was apparently bitten by a tick during a fishing trip in Oklahoma.
She showed her first symptoms after the Big Sur Marathon in 2002, her fourth marathon within a year. She started having right knee joint pain, diagnosed as arthritis.
Over the next few years, Lori developed additional symptoms of extreme fatigue, insomnia, back and joint pain, and extreme headaches. A former Californian who lived in Oklahoma with her daughter, the single mom was forced to quit her job because of her overwhelming health problems.
She saw a string of doctors, both near and far. Some couldn’t put a name to what she had…some called it fibromyalgia…after several years, she was diagnosed with chronic Lyme. Her parents crisscrossed the country taking her to specialists in Texas, Colorado, Missouri, and North Carolina. None of the extensive treatments she underwent helped her. Her health continued to spiral downward. She had breathing problems, a pulmonary embolism, a stroke in her eye, and eventually, a leaky heart valve.
In June of 2009, she developed pneumonia while waiting for heart valve surgery. On June 26, at age 37, she passed away at home.
Overcome with grief and frustration, her dad, retired Air Force Officer Al Salge, committed himself to “finding a way to get back at this disease.”
“We were in deep mourning,” he remembers. “I had to find a way to cope with losing my precious daughter.”
He started educating anybody who would listen. He joined CALDA and put together a briefing to teach others how to prevent Lyme disease. He has spoken at hunter safety courses and health clubs in Santa Ynez (a small community north of Santa Barbara.) He has distributed CALDA literature to rangers at nearby Lake Cachuma County Park.
An avid runner, this coming weekend, he will join other family members at the Big Sur Marathon, in memory of Lori. (This will be Al’s 18th time in the annual event. Lori herself ran it twice.) They’ll wear memorial T-shirts and caps in her honor, and will join in prayer at one special spot where her ashes were scattered last year.
“We loved her so much. We tried so hard to help her. And she died anyway,” Al says softly. “I just want to help other people learn how to save themselves from the same fate.”
Contact blogger Dorothy Kupcha Leland at dleland@lymedisease.org.
Wish he was my Dad. Mine turned his back on me.
This is such a sad story! My heart goes out to her family and I do pray that any one who has this will not be mis-diagnosed ever again.
Maybe with the correct diagnosis, she could have been saved.
May God bless her family! Such a loss!
Heartbreaking story. Sadly, there are so many more like it. I can't even imagine that emotional pain. It does help to put that pain to use in a positive way and that's what this father has done.
To know he'll be helping so many people is a blessing brought "through" him by his beloved daughter.
I pray for this family,I myself was a very active mother of three boys, had a business for 20 yrs and had 8 months to finish my clinicals at nursing. This Disease Just rips you apart..It mimics so many things and that is why it is so smart..And and most cases before our doctors figure it out ,Lyme has won..I just pray for me and all the other Lyme victims out there that we can get together as a force and kick this Lyme Disease butt and educate Doctors more so they can stop it before it starts..The IDSA has to wake up and see how many people are actually suffering and dying everyday..Know one should ever suffer like we do without the right treatments and help…One day this to shall change and I pray it is sooner than later before to many more precious people are lost to Lyme…ty..Lisa
Dear Sir, I'm so sorry for your loss. It's especially tragic since it's due to Lyme. Thank you for working so hard in your daughter's name. I've also been fighting Lyme since 2003 in Sacramento. God Bless you!