Buffie LaRocca, Cheyene, WY

*Please watch for future blog posts on Buffie’s fundraising site and treatment, and take a look at her family’s amazing Lyme Disease Challenge video!

Buffie LaRocca is a mom, wife, sister and volunteer enthusiast with a background in theatre arts and nonprofit management. She was a traveling actor for years, spending many summers in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Orleans, New York, Oregon and other states. She now lives in Wyoming, but grew up in the Flathead Valley in Montana where she was an avid outdoors girl. By the time she’d entered her 20s, more ticks had bitten her than she could count, but her immune system seemed to keep any tick-borne illnesses she’d contracted at bay…that is, until she gave birth to a premature son.  In 2011, she became so ill that she went to the ER. That trip began her search to figure out what was making her so sick. She has yet to fully recover her health.

After many years of misdiagnoses, Buffie finally learned that she has Lyme disease. At first she was relieved to have an answer, but she soon discovered that her Lyme battle would go beyond her health issues to include the insurance companies, outdated medical guidelines, political turmoil, and corrupt members of the very organizations that were established to help protect American citizens. Buffie is now eager to give a voice to others who are living in the “Lyme light.”

To learn more about Buffie’s story, please visit thoselymiebastards.wordpress.com. Buffie also has a GoFundMe account (http://www.gofundme.com/tkw5pw) to help raise money for the mounting medical bills her health insurance company refuses to cover.