writing a book to help others avoid the same fate

​Early diagnosis of Lyme disease could have saved her husband Russ's life. Now she's helping to make sure other families don't have to suffer the same fate.  Meet Nicole Bell, author of "What Lurks In the Woods: Struggle and Hope in the Midst of Chronic Illness". 

Nicole Bell was a high school classmate of mine (one year ahead) way back in the day, at Canton High School (Canton, MA).  We unexpectedly reconnected a couple years ago when I found out that she had written a book - titled 'What Lurks In the Woods' - which documents her family's journey through the medical minefield as she searched for answers and treatments to her husband Russ's mysterious early-onset dementia. In fact, the root cause ended up being lyme disease. And what a long, hard and frustrating journey it was to even get that diagnosis in the first place. 

The problem with diagnosing Lyme disease, Nicole explained, is that the most widely prevalent testing regime at this time happens to be antibody testing - which results in a 35-51% chance of testing negative even when positive for the disease. And this is simply unacceptable, particularly given that early (and accurate) detection and diagnosis of lyme disease is crucial for treating it. Nicole has since made it part of her mission going forward to help fix this problem, and she's now on the front lines in the effort to do so.

Many of the lessons that Nicole has learned along her journey are applicable to other rare disease journeys and diagnostic odysseys that so many families across the world have experienced, which is why I wanted to speak with her. 

In the clip below, Nicole talks about the process of writing the book and her hope to inspire people who are suffering from chronic, symptom-based illnesses to dig deeper - so that they can find and treat the root causes of their disease before it’s too late.  

To learn more about Nicole, her book, and other projects of hers at this time, visit: https://www.nicoledaniellebell.com/.

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