Jason has been living with health issues for at least a decade now. It all started after a bulls eye shaped rash appeared one summer in his teens.

In recent years Jason's jaw has developed severe TMJ to the point he was  diagnosed with a seizure disorder in 2015. The clenching (day and night) has broken down several teeth and is causing pain and discomfort ongoing.

He is in dire need of both restorative dental work, a mouth guard and some supportive treatments to help his body reduce the muscle spasticity.

From muscle spasms, joint pain, insomnia, severe ongoing digestive issues, headaches to neurological concerns, Jason has had been dealing with a lot.

He has been unable to work or go to school for years now, but is still looking forward to the day in the near future he will be able to so.

Years of ill health went by before Jason received the diagnosis of Lyme in 2006, by an MD who understood to take a full clinical history, not just rely on fallible lab tests. (Jason's ELISA test for Lyme was borderline). False negatives are all too common with Lyme. He did test positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and EBV.

Jason and his younger sister a few years back, at her Graduation.

(There are no recent photos of Jason. When we don't feel well, we sometimes choose to not have photos taken. This is a pic of during a "better" few months- not well but looking fine to those who don't understand he is still going through a host of symptoms during the 'better' times too. In recent years, those times have become less often.)

Lyme Disease can be so easily missed by the doctors, that it is possible to become quite ill before being correctly diagnosed.

In 2007 Jason's liver swelled to the point of pressing on his rib cage causing great discomfort for over a year and a half! He lost over 150lbs from 2008-2010 dropping from over 300 lbs to 160lbs.

Striving to get healthy while adjusting his diet Jason sought out the care of a Naturapth/Homeopath. While effective it was not possible to continue seeing a naturapth due to the cost. Consequently Jason has not yet had enough treatment for Lyme or his other health conditions.

Lots of research took place on different schools of thought so as to determine which way to turn next. Jason's journey was/is about health and hope. He seemed to trip into a Ketogenic diet for a while as he increased good fats and reduced simple carbs.

Jason starting eating a diet with no gluten, dairy, soy, corn, sugar and mostly grain free. Whole, real foods, and organic when possible. The weight then started to fall off to the point he dropped too light. It's been a bit up and down since as other health issues continue to challenge him.

A year into the weight loss and acute liver problems, Jason was fasting off and on as he got to know when he was needing a break from eating due to rising toxicity issues, and even did a 7 day full water fast once.

His digestive tract would just shut right down but then he learned to read the signs ahead of time, so would lighten his diet even more, or fast. The fasting started to eliminate the ER visits by 2010.

There were a couple of years he had to be taken to the ER about every three months. Jason couldn't really slow down the weight loss at that time and yet his body coudln't handle the overall stress from rapid weightloss either.

The ER would rehydrate with IV, give him painkillers and then usually just send him home and tell him to eat?? First the doctors said, lose weight (which he couldn't for a while....) then they said stop starving yourself???

For a short time in 2010- 2011, Jason was getting out more and starting to feel slightly better. However his health has taken a few steps back again, but we are confident that he will get well.

He has the right attitude so there is hope!

Jason is doing very well especially considering what he has been up against, yet he deserves to be healthy enough to live and get out and do things. He deserves a chance. A his mom I have seen him go through enough suffering for a lifetime and I wish him health and vitality. In addition to the health issues, there is the lack of support from some family members. Jason has had to walk away from some relationships as some do not understand his health issues and this creates further stress.

I used to take my kids camping ever summer thinking I was being a good mom exposing them to all of that. We suspect he picked up Lyme while camping. Long Point Provincial Park (Canada's 1st Lyme endemic region), was our favourite spot to camp, in tents, no electricity by the beach, barefoot in the sand enjoying nature.

Jason needs help to pay for these current medical costs as we do not have dental insurance or any extra health care plans beyond the standard OHIP coverage here in Ontario Canada, which does not recognize chronic Lyme.

This campaign is being launched on Jason's 29th Birthday. We hope this is the year he gets well. It was just shortly after his 20th Birthday that he was diagnosed with Lyme.

Thank you for reading this campaign.

Please contribute if you can and be sure to share this with others.

In 2008 I started a page on Facebook called "Lyme Love" to share about Lyme and Life, now it's calle "Loving Life Through Lyme".

Please join us at "Lyme Love".

Jason at Queen's Park Toronto Sept 27, 2010 for The Wall of Hope Rally

Link to a short story about Jason's Journey