November 27, 2012

NATURE OF THINGS

i have some exciting news to share!

there is a documentary about Lyme in Canada in the works! Merit Motion pictures is shooting the documentary for CBC's The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. isn't that just super?

the documentary will air on The Nature of Things in Fall 2013.

back in early spring, parker had come to us and said that he wanted his voice to be heard and his story to be told. then a few months later, i was contacted by one of the producers from the Nature of Things and the opportunity for parker's story to be told fell into our lap. at that time, they were just starting to research Lyme disease... and were quickly learning that the scope of the lyme issue is huge and very multifaceted. at that point, they were considering addressing how global warming is impacting the spread of ticks in canada and how this has dramatically increased the risk factors for canadians and how the government and medical profession is woefully unprepared to handle this alarming and growing epidemic.

they wanted to feature one or two families that had children whom have been impacted with lyme as part of their documentary. our name had been forwarded to them. by the time the producer contacted me, i was pretty surprised by how much of our story she already knew. apparently, prior to contacting us, she had read a fair bit of my blog.

the story that had caught her attention was the one about harrison being treated for lyme this past spring. (read here - bittersweet juxtaposition)

so yes, the dog has earned us an appearance on national tv.

he's referring to himself as our agent now
and trying to collect fees.


i've told him when he starts picking up his own poop, then he'll be in a position to negotiate.

anyhow, back to the nature of this post...contrary to what he thinks, this is not about the dog.

last week, i spoke with another producer and the director of the Lyme documentary and things are moving full steam ahead. over the past few months, they have been all over canada and the usa interviewing many lymies, scientists and lyme doctors. they even sent a crew to the ILADS conference in Boston. this is a huge conference and ILADS is the medical society that focuses on the latest in lyme research and trains doctors on how to treat lyme. the crew also spent a fair amount of time back east in Manitoba. they interviewed patients there and our canadian lyme hero, dr ernie murakami. this is the doc who originally diagnosed me and treated me briefly before he was forced to retire his license. (read about that here) dr murakami is a remarkable person and we all love him dearly.


this coming week, the crew and director from merit motion pictures will be interviewing our family in our home as well as filming us during our upcoming trip to SF to see DR H. we fly to SF on wednesday (nov 28)and have appointments with DR H this thursday (nov 29) and the film crew will be there to capture it all. oh boy. we are very excited that DR H has agreed to be interviewed. this is a huge deal. i am quite nervous that he will have second thoughts and back out at the last minute. pray that he doesn't! there is such significance in him being interviewed. it is one thing for us to tell viewers how sick we were/are but there is a ton more credibility attached to our experience when it is backed up the treating physician. additionally, having him weigh in on the lyme issue is so important as the medical opinion of non-lyme doctors is sure to be represented. 

david suzuki is a well respected and renowned environmentalist. i believe he is very influential and for him to be 'on board' with shedding light on Lyme disease is a remarkable platform. we are so grateful to be given the opportunity to share our story. we are excited but very nervous too! please pray that i can speak articulately and effectively and wisely communicate the issues at hand. i want to tell our story in a way that will spark awareness of lyme and leads to the recognition of lyme in canada and ultimately sheds light on the plight of thousands of patients in canada that are suffering...we are but one in a sea of faces in desperate need of change. 

filming will take place in SF (our hotel and DR H's office) this thursday. 
we will arrive home on saturday (dec 1) and the film crew will spend sunday and monday (dec 2 & 3) in our home. many thanks to my friend maureen who is donating her time and cleaning skills to getting my home camera ready. 



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