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World Lyme Day ™ Lyme Disease Ready Set Shoot Photo Campaign


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Lyme Lives Here is a grassroots social media campaign with a mission to raise Lyme Disease Awareness targeted at the Outdoors industry worldwide.  World Lyme Day ™ is a Canadian based company that will be working hand in hand with the LymeDiseaseChallenge.Org and the Take a Bite out of Lyme Disease Campaign which raises funds for Ilads.Org

                                   
 
Why Lyme Lives Here?

Lyme Disease is one of the fastest-growing infectious diseases in the country.  In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), recently described Lyme Disease as a “tremendous health problem.”  The CDC estimates that there are at least 300,000 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States alone, with a significant percentage suffering chronic symptoms even after standard antibiotic treatment.  With that number its estimated that 1.5 Million will go Undiagnosed. 

The purpose of the Take a Bite Out of Lyme Disease Challenge is to raise awareness and funds to improve diagnosis and treatment.  All proceeds will go to International Lyme and Associated Diseases Educational Fund (ILADEF), the 501(c)(3) non-profit of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS).
 
In 2012 while attending an ICAST Conference in Orlando Florida, Co-Founder of World Lyme Day Terri Mackinnon-Cross was out fishing on a residential pond when she was bit by a tick.  Three days later she started suffering the effects of the tiny tick that became embedded in her leg.  Three years later after countless doctors and hospital stays she realized the need to raise awareness for this disease to the community that she had been successfully raising awareness for with her companies WomenFishing.com and FisherGirl.
 
“Because of my lack of knowledge I unfortunately removed an embedded tick improperly and that has cost me possibly my life.  I was an advocate for the outdoors when I began my career as founder of FisherGirl in 2005 winning twice at Icast.  My goal was to raise awareness to the 17 Million female anglers that it was ok to be a girl and go out and enjoy the sport of fishing.  However, I have since learned that being safe in that environment must be something that is shared first.” states Canadian resident Terri Mackinnon-Cross.
 
Rebecca Moses partner at World Lyme Day ™ shares - “I realized that Lyme was attacking over 300,000 new victims a year in the U.S. alone.  (That estimate may be considerably higher).  It does not discriminate, and has no barriers when it attacks. Lyme does not care what color your skin is, what sex you are or how old you are.  Unfortunately ticks only care that they find someone to feed on or one of your pets which are also at risk.  It is also passed during pregnancy onto a baby.” 
 
“Fishers, Hunters, Campers, Hikers are all at risk.  We must put our resources together to raise awareness for this disease.  Some people are years trying to get properly diagnosed.  Our goal is to raise awareness to the disease and the breath of what is happening worldwide.   Education is key to help prevent spreading this disease and also for removing ticks properly. It mimics many diseases and is often misdiagnosed because of poor testing.  The largest group of people effected are those involved with the outdoors.” says Terri Mackinnon-Cross.
 
How Does the Lyme Lives Here Challenge Work?
 
Participants are asked to join our Facebook page www.facebook.com/LymeLives and upload a photo showing us where you found Lyme.  This Photo Contest is offering 10 prizes to the photo that has the most likes.  There is a $500.00 First prize with additional money and prize packages available.
                         Join us also on Twitter @worldlymeday and hashtag #lymeliveshere
                                         The Campaign runs from April 1 to May 31st

 
 
How Does the Lyme disease Challenge Work?
 
Participants are asked to follow the three easy steps below and make a $10 donation.  Those who prefer not to take the bite, can donate $20 instead.  The campaign runs from Mar.1 to June 30.


 
About Lyme disease
 
Lyme Disease is caused by a spirochete (spiral shaped) bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) and is primarily transmitted by ticks.  Children ages 5 - 14 are at the greatest risk of acquiring Lyme Disease and constitute approximately 25% of all reported cases. According to research, children are bitten by ticks more frequently around the head and neck, making them more vulnerable to brain and central nervous system infections.  Infants can also become infected by Lyme Disease and related infections during pregnancy.
 
Lyme is called the “great imitator,” because it can mimic conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and autism.  Ticks harbor many other diseases that can be transmitted to humans aside from Lyme Disease, including other bacterial infections, viruses or parasites. Indeed, there are many diseases (some life-threatening) carried by ticks that can complicate tick-borne disease diagnosis, treatment and recovery, including Babesiosis, Tularemia, Anaplasmosis, Mycoplasma, Ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Borrelia miyamotoi, Bartonella, Heartland virus, Powassan virus, the newly discovered Bourbon virus, among others.
 
Those suffering from Lyme Disease and co-infections are challenged in all aspects of diagnosis, treatment, and research funding.  The average patient sees five doctors over nearly 2 years before being diagnosed.  In a recent survey, approximately half reported not being properly diagnosed for more than 10 years.  Delays in diagnosis are due in large part to misinformation and the fact that the two-tier testing paradigm for Lyme disease recommended by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) misses approximately half the actual cases pursuant to numerous peer-reviewed studies. There is a deep division within the medical community as to how patients should be treated if they do not respond to a standard course of antibiotics lasting several weeks, leaving many patients without effective care or insurance coverage.  Chronic Lyme Disease may be long lasting, may significantly impair patient quality of life, and may be extremely costly to patients, employers, healthcare systems, and society in general.   Lyme is a global epidemic, with cases on every continent except Antarctica.
 
Although the number of new Lyme cases annually is staggering (over 300,000 new cases a year…underestimated), there is relatively very meager support for research funding.  Indeed, the annual incidence of Lyme disease is higher than that of breast cancer, hepatitis, and colon cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and West Nile Virus. However, federal funding of Lyme Disease has been extremely disproportionate. For example, Lyme Disease occurs 6 times more often annually than HIV/AIDS, yet it receives less than 1% of the funding from the National Institutes of Health compared to HIV/AIDS.  Likewise, there are 141 times as many cases of Lyme Disease than West Nile virus, yet Lyme Disease receives less than half of the funding for research.


With your help, we truly can make a meaningful difference for the millions suffering from Lyme disease globally.  Help us raise awareness and funding. 
 
If you would like to help us, please feel free to visit our site, share our Facebook and become one of our partners willing to let others know about this disease.
 
Ticks are out, spring is here and Lyme disease is growing daily.   Let’s work together to make our families and friends safer.
 
For more information, please visit us at www.worldlymeday.com   or on our Facebook www.facebook.com/worldlymeday  PR Contact: Terri Mackinnon-Cross (416) 540-0661   WorldLymeDay@gmail.com     @worldlymeday
Editor’s Note: Advertising, Sponsorship, Images and Interviews with founder Terri MacKinnon-Crosss are available upon request
 
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