Olivia Goodreau was 6 when she was bitten by a tick. She has been living with Lyme disease ever since.
Now 15, she wants people to know they could be just one bite away from getting the disease themselves. Olivia is the founder of the LivLyme Foundation, a nonprofit supporting research dedicated to finding effective treatments for tick-borne disease. LivLyme has already raised more than $1 million.
When Olivia was bitten by the tick, she and her family did not see it, and she did not get the bull’s-eye rash that happens with many people bitten by Lyme-carrying ticks, meaning she had no idea what had just happened to her.
In second grade, Olivia began having body aches, brain fog, headaches and tremors in her right hand. Even more alarmingly, she started blacking out. It became hard to get out of bed. After seeing 51 doctors over 18 months, it was confirmed that Olivia had contracted Lyme disease.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the United States. A disease vector is any agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism.
Read about tick awareness in the Guide to Safe Scouting and the CDC links listed within it, and then come back and take our quiz.
Anyone who takes this quiz below will be entered to win a $100 scoutshop.org gift card. (Contest ends June 30, 2020, but you can still take the quiz afterwards). Best used with the most updated version of your web browser.
Find answers to other frequently asked health and safety questions at go.scoutingmagazine.org/safetyfaq
Inspire Leadership, Foster Values: Donate to Scouting
When you give to Scouting, you are making it possible for young people to have extraordinary opportunities that will allow them to embrace their true potential and become the remarkable individuals they are destined to be.
Donate Today
Be the first to comment