Steffanie spent years of her life going to doctors trying to figure out what was going on.
Steffanie has Chronic Lyme disease.
She is also a mother of five and a dancer.
“That is what I went to college for [dancing], but in my senior year I kept getting weaker and weaker until eventually my dad had to come carry me out to the car while my brother packed all of my things.”
Steffanie dropping out of college before finishing her degree was just the beginning of her Lyme journey.
Years went by, she had a family, and she was still sick. Steffanie felt frustrated and hopeless.
“I was losing the battle and starting to accept the fact that I might not be able to find an answer and that my beautiful five kids might be raised by somebody else.”
Similarly to other Lyme patients, Steffanie’s doctors did not provide the help she so desperately needed. She was told that it would take several days to see a doctor, who would then refer her to a specialist and then to a surgeon and so on.
“Even though the doctors knew I was going in and out of consciousness, I was incredibly weak, I was having difficulty speaking English, it took several days for me to see my doctor…and then it was going to be a couple weeks after that where I would be operated on.”
Steffanie recalls that she knew she would not make it.
“I knew I did not have long and I knew I was not going to be able to make that, so that evening prior to me flying to Mexico is when Lyme really started to affect my ability to breathe.”
When Steffanie’s sister came to check on and realized that she couldn’t speak, they knew what they needed to do.
Steffanie recalls being able to still think in Spanish, so she called her other Spanish-speaking sister and was able to tell her that they needed to go to Mexico.
“Then, literally with just the clothes on my back and my identification I went to Mexico and fortunately they were able to stabilize me enough to be able to have the operation. Once I had the operation, they were able to… get me strong enough to where I was able to have enough strength to make it back to the United States.”
Steffanie recalls this amazing journey and feels like those treating her were “earth angels.”
“[One of the cleaning ladies] wrapped me in her arms and said, “The people here pray to God and they will find answers for you and they will save you. You will be able to make it back to your kids.”
And ultimately, Steffanie recovered from her Lyme disease through her treatment in Mexico and by being on a consistent immune boosting regimen.
Steffanie’s strength was returned and she was able to finish her dance degree. The best part of all, though?
She gets to raise her five beautiful kids herself.
Watch the Many Faces of Lyme here.