“My family needs me, the world needs me. Please help if you can.”

It takes a lot of courage to ask for help, and it is not something the patients we have met or worked with do lightly or easily.  For many, it takes months or years beyond the point of really needing help to finally be ready to ask for it…or, more likely, to no longer have a choice.

Earlier this year, the LaRocca family had to reach out to friends and family for help after years of fighting for Buffie’s health in the face of Lyme disease.  Although awareness is growing bit by bit, most people don’t know the true nature and duration of this disease, nor its true geographic range and complexity. This illness is draining lives and resources worldwide.

You may have seen Buffie’s family pictured in past posts, and may have read about Buffie here as well, as she has reached out to help us raise awareness and to help patients as a patient and media contact on this site.

Buffie has been traveling from Wyoming to northern Idaho for treatment and is back to treatment yesterday after a four day rest.  She will be completing a round of 30 treatments this month, and then heading back throughout the year for further treatments, alongside many patients from our region traveling there for care.

The expense of treatment, paired with the travel costs and the costs of extended out of town stays have more than taken their toll, and this family needs our help:

“It took us a over a year to decide to humble ourselves and start fundraising. It’s so hard, and we know full well how tight money is for people. If you can’t donate, please share.”

You can donate and share her fundraiser via the family’s GoFundMe site and you can read more about this family on her contact page and on her personal blog.  Buffie also has requested postcards while she is in treatment, to lift her spirits (address is posted on the gofundme page linked above).

Her family’s Lyme Disease Challenge video is one of my favorites, and was a featured regional challenge on this site, but if you missed, here’s another chance.