Photo courtesy of Brendan Dermody
Brendan Dermody is trying to raise money for a hyperbaric chamber to help combat his symptoms of chronic Lyme disease. With him are his younger sisters, who have also been diagnosed with Lyme disease, and their father.
From an early age, Brendan Dermody has had to deal with adversity. The 30-year-old Boonton Township resident first lost his mother at the age of 12. Then came the strange medical obstacle to which no one had an answer.
Dermody could only explain it as a series of misdiagnoses, mistreatments and dismisses, and being classified into niches of beliefs and practices. Over a period of 12 years, he would be told everything from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormonal changes, and depression - to being labeled lazy and that it was all in his head.
Then finally came a diagnosis.
"My ophthalmologist is how I found out, of all places," Dermody recounted. "I was there because my left eyelid drooped dramatically, as well as the left side of my face, which is Bell's palsy. We did a full blood panel and lo and behold, positive for Lyme. That's where my world essentially got turned upside down."
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates "that the number of Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year is around 300,000." (Findings are based on findings in CDC studies that use different methods: project analyzes medical claims information for approximately 22 million insured people annually for six years; a survey of clinical laboratories; and analyzes of self-reported Lyme disease cases from a survey of the general public. August, 2013.)
The numbers, however, are only for those who suffer from the average condition of Lyme disease, in which patients receive the prescribed average of three to four weeks of antibiotics and whose condition improves over time.
The CDC itself acknowledges there are patients who receive the therapy who might still be at risk of chronic Lyme disease - Dermody's condition - but the cause is known.
Even according to the Mayo Clinic, "it is not clear why some people fail to recover fully" (2011).
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Dermody fights Lyme disease in Boonton Twp.