My friend Alisa

Compliments of Angelique Cook Photography

I have a beautiful friend named Alisa. Not only is she beautiful on the outside, her heart is absolutely pure. I met Alisa in 2007 after my Lyme diagnosis. I would go to get IV treatments and this beautiful girl sat near me. As we laid there in our own treatment chairs, we would talk when we weren't sleeping. I barely remember our conversations, but I do remember we talked about my Lyme Disease, her heavy metal poisoning and our mutual vein problems. I remember her talking about traveling, but with my Lyme Brain I couldn't remember why she traveled all the time. Alisa was there on the day I got my PICC line. And Alisa was the first person (other than my husband) to see my PICC as she was contemplating getting one. She saw my PICC less than 30 minutes after it was placed.

So I have been wanting to do a biography on one of my dearest Lyme friends since I started this blog. I contacted her recently asking if she would be interested and as all of you know, it's very difficult when you're in the depths of Lyme to form a complete thought. So while I know it's difficult for her to do my survey right now and while I don't have the information to do a true biography on my friend, I do want you to get to know Alisa and her soul.

Alisa currently lives in North Carolina not too far from me. She just recently got married and her husband is a dream come true for Alisa. I've seen her wedding pictures and to say that she looked absolutely radiant is an understatement. Alisa struggles with many aspects of Lyme. I don't even know where to begin and since we haven't actually seen each other in so long, I really don't know of even half of her difficulties. I do know that she has seizures. She does IV treatment at home through a port and also has a feeding tube. The difficulties of Lyme brings loneliness. Because you don't get Lyme until you get Lyme, people outside the Lyme world don't understand how complicated Lyme is for Alisa so she feels lonely. After you read this, you will hear her beautiful voice which is why it is so frustrating that Alisa now has to go to speech therapy because her muscles in her mouth have weakened so much.

When I reached out to her, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to answer the questions the way she wanted to. Her brain struggles constantly that she has moments where she doesn't even recognize her husband. She had two hours the other day where she could handle light noise and being able to read & comprehend, but that doesn't last long. So that's why I wanted you all to get to know my friend Alisa. She & her husband need your prayers.

The best way I know how to share with you my friend is to have you listen to her voice. This video is from 2008. And a year ago, I rediscovered why Alisa traveled so much when I discovered this video. Alisa is an incredible singer and talented song writer. Go to the bottom of those post to read the lyrics.




My note to my friend:

Alisa, I love you. I consider you to be one of my best friends. I thank God that He put me through my own Lyme journey because He allowed me to meet some absolutely fantastic people in this world which at the top of that list is you. It is my desire that God heal you completely and you absolutely deserve the best this world has to offer. This song gives me incredible goose bumps and reaches my soul. I think it is a wonderful anthem for Lyme Disease even though you may not have known you had Lyme when you wrote these heart touching lyrics. When you are able, I would love to do a true biography with the survey I sent. But for now, I hope this helps touch your heart as much as you've touched mine. May God bless and heal you.

Your friend,

Jennifer

Breathing by Alisa Turner

It is dying to come out
It is killing me within
Someone check if I’m still

Breathing
Just keep me breathing
Oh now what should I say
I wanna to keep it from the heart
Well someone check if I’m still

Breathing
Just keep me breathing
See this is why I sing it
It’s gonna keep me breathing

I should’ve told you from the start of things
That tonight I’m really suffering
And me I hope you’re still

Believing
Don’t stop believing
Cause if you stop believing
Than it will keep me singing

I do have thought of suicide
I know it’s brave of me to say (I know)
But am I brave enough

To Stay
Enough to stay
So this is why I’m singing
To keep me breathing