Bend family traveling far to treat controversial illness
Members of a Bend family are packing their bags and heading to Germany this summer, but this is no vacation. They say they’re leaving for medical treatment doctors here won’t provide.
It’s a long-standing controversy in the medical community. The Pratt family is seeking treatment for chronic Lyme disease. Many doctors say it doesn’t even exist, but the family wanted to share their story in hopes that changes.
Danielle Pratt said she’s battled this disease for 25 years.
“We’ve seen countless doctors and specialists, and everyone I would ask to test me for it, or treat me for it, or just mention that I had read these symptoms were possibly Lyme related, they would say, ‘Absolutely not, it doesn’t exist on the West Coast. Even if you test positive for it, we won’t treat you for it. We don’t believe in Lyme disease,'” she said Thursday.
The Bend native believes a childhood tick bite led to chronic Lyme disease, a condition most doctors and even the Center for Disease Control and Prevention don’t acknowledge.
“They believe in Lyme disease, but not chronic Lyme disease,” Pratt said.
But according to Pratt, the controversial condition is very real.
“My hair is all falling out — I have extensions in. I am having major neurological symptoms,” she said.
“Some days, I will stutter the same word for 20 minutes, some days I’ll open my mouth and nothing will come out. I can’t see out of one eye or the other or hear out of one ear or the other, and I’m having massive pain episodes at night, to where I’m passing out and stop breathing and (wake up to) my husband and kids palpitating my chest and slapping my face to wake up.”.
Recently, Pratt’s husband tested positive for Lyme disease, and all three of their children are also showing symptoms.
Since they couldn’t find help here, the family made a drastic decision.
“We are going to ‘St. Georg Klinik’ in Bad Aibling, Germany”
It will be a costly international journey.
“We’re thinking it’s between $50,000 and $80,000 per person,” said Pratt’s husband, Cory.
The treatment involves whole-body hyperthermia, a process that raises the patient’s body temperature to about 107 degrees Fahrenheit and maintains it for two to three hours.
The clinic states this kills the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause the disease. Treatment also includes an intense detox lasting several months.
The family is hopeful this clinic will be a life-changer.
“I’m looking forward to being able to hang out on my front porch with my husband and talk about dreams and the future, because it’s been pretty bleak lately,” Pratt said. “I want to be able to go play with my kids. I want to be that mom who isn’t at the doctor five days a week. It’s been hard.”
She said she wants to encourage anyone going through a similar experience, and has a blog chronicling her story:, at:
For more information on the treatment center:
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention information:
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/postlds/index.html
Help the Pratt family:
www.youcaring.com/danielle-cory-hayden-lucy-grey-pratt-597453#.v4z1jqg6ihm.facebook
