Dear Editor,
Thank you so much for the article raising the awareness of people with Lyme disease [Mother finds answer to mystery illness, April 10, Langley Advance Times]. The story about Amy Dyck was heart wrenching.
My daughter who is turning 40 this year has been sick for two and a half years. She saw seven specialists and had three MRIs (two paid for privately) and multiple tests including for Lyme disease, and spent over $6,000 in tests to try to get a diagnosis.
She got, “I don’t know,” from doctors.
It’s truly frustrating.
After much research and learning that the Lyme disease test in Canada isn’t very accurate, we paid for a blood test sent to Germany, after the test done here was negative.
The German test came back positive, and we were so relieved to finally have an answer, only to learn from doctors and our insurance company, which cut her off two years ago, that they don’t recognize tests outside of Canada.
The stress of navigating a broken medical system is added to insurance companies that like to get their premiums but cut you off when it comes to paying out.
There are probably thousands of sick people who don’t know what’s wrong with them because of poor testing in Canada, and are financially burdened by being too sick to work.
It’s time our government fixed this problem, and also does something about the insurance companies.
Treatments should be paid by our medical system. You shouldn’t have to start up a GoFundMe page in order to get better. Let’s help these people get better and get back to work.
If you are sick and doctors can’t explain what is wrong with you, look up the symptoms of Lyme disease, and if you recognize the symptoms, get a test done outside of Canada.
My best wishes to Amy Dyck in getting her health back.
Sherri Stacy, Langley City