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Rest In Peace – Friend And Fellow Lyme Warrior
17FEB
Jeremiah K
Rest In Peace – Friend and Lyme Warrior
I literally just heard the news so I am at a loss for words. It’s been a rough week and this really saddened me to the breaking point.
Jeremiah Katches was a good friend, father, husband, photographer, lyme disease sufferer and lover of life’s beauty. He was one of the only Lyme disease sufferers I knew who was near by in California. We never had a chance to meet in person because one of us was always too ill and neither of us could leave the house.
I just talked to Jeremiah on Thursday night and by Friday he was gone. His last message was “I love u brother an don’t give up fighting …. I’ll keep u in my prayers an pray so hard something changes for u for the best”. That is the kind of person he was, always caring and thoughtful even in his suffering.
I wish doctors could help us and that even a psychologist could use their services for free to help those who are crying for help. Jeremiah was crying out for help the last few days and nobody responded to him. I had no idea until I just read his twitter. So sad and I feel like I could have helped had I known.
The first day I met Jeremiah he was always so supportive and optimistic. He talked to me about becoming a famous photographer. I hope his pain and suffering are gone and he knows that he was loved by many.
Jeremiah had been suffering from lyme and coinfections and he was vomiting frequently and had really bad insomnia like I do. I do not know how he passed away but i do know he was in a lot of pain the last few days and lyme was breaking his body down.
My thoughts and prayers are with his family, wife and two daughters. Rest in peace brother, I love you too….
Here is the last message from Jeremiah the day before his passing which I think speaks for us all and speaks volumes. May his death open more eyes and make people more aware:
“This disease like u said is destroying our lives an it doesn’t seem like anyone cares anymore. Not even our dr’s. I’m trying to stay positive just like I’m sure u are but it’s so hard to do when no one takes us serious. I’ll keep u in my prayers an pray so hard something changes for u for the best.”
Read More About Jeremiah And His Story Below:
From lymedisease.org – HERE
From inannahouse.org – HERE
or visit these links (copy/paste)
http://lymedisease.org/news/touchedbyly ... rrior.html
http://www.inannahouse.org/july-2012.html
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So It Begins...Jeremiah's Story
My name is Jeremiah Katches, I’m 29 years old and I suffer from Chronic Lyme Disease. Eight years ago, while serving in the Army, I was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and had been participating in a “Simulated War” exercise. During these exercises, we were out in the field, sleeping on the ground, unable to change our clothes or shower for several days. Once our training had been completed and I was allowed to go back to my barracks and shower, I noticed I had three Ticks on me.
At the time, I didn’t know anything about Lyme Disease; I quickly pulled the ticks off, and dismissed the whole matter. About a week later, however, I noticed a Bull’s Eye rash on my
Picture
arm, and immediately went to see the Physician on Base. I remembered it had been one of the areas where I had been bitten, but when I showed it to the Doctor, he simply glanced at the rash, told me it was nothing to worry about and sent me on my way.
About a week after my visit, I assumed that I had suddenly came down with the Flu. My whole body ached, I had a high fever, and was constantly throwing up. I thought I would recover, but as time went by, I wasn’t getting better, only worse. So much worse, in fact, that I could hardly get out of bed and could no longer perform my duties. Because of this, I was medically discharged and sent back home to California.
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When I got there, I had several Lyme blood tests done to see if that may be the reason I was suddenly so sick, but the results kept coming back negative. I hadn’t realized then how unreliable those tests were, and so the next two years I remained both ill and frustrated that no one could figure out what was wrong with me.
Eventually, a friend of mine who suffers from Lyme informed me how useless the normal blood test for Lyme Disease actually is and said I should get tested through a different lab, one that offered a more accurate test. The test finally came back positive, and so for the last six years of my life I have been fighting Lyme.
Unfortunately, due to the cost of treatment and the unwillingness of Insurance Companies to help cover it, I haven’t always been able to do everything my Doctor has wanted me to in order to get better. But, I do what I can.
Like everyone else who suffers from this disease, I definitely have my own ups and downs with it. It just has taken so much from me, and has really limited the things I am able to do now.
The one thing it hasn’t completely taken away from me is my love of Photography. Not only does it relax me, but helps me express how I’m feeling, which I find to be very helpful. I’ve never been “good” with words, and I find that my photography speaks more clearly then I ever could. A picture does say, “A Thousand Words,” right?
I know I’m just one person infected with Chronic Lyme Disease, and that on my own, by myself, it’s hard to make a difference. But when all of us, the thousands of people suffering with this disease stick together and fight for each other, that’s when we can make our voices heard. I hope my pictures are as meaningful and inspirational to you as they are to me. I’ll never stop my fight against Lyme and my photography will always be one of my weapons I use to battle it.
http://www.inannahouse.org/july-2012.html
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Tags: Chronic Lyme Disease, coinfections, Jeremiah Katches, Lyme disease,Lyme disease death, Rest In Peace Lyme Disease
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http://lymedisease.org/news/touchedbyly ... rrior.html
RIP, Jeremiah Katches, from Colfax, CA, who died after a long battle with Lyme disease.
I met Jeremiah Katches several years ago, at a showing of the Lyme documentary UNDER OUR SKIN. He was a sweet faced young man in a wheelchair. I was tending a Lyme disease information table in the back of the theater. Because my daughter had spent more than three years in a wheelchair due to Lyme disease, I felt a special affinity for him. We talked about treatment options.
I was sporadically aware of Jeremiah in the following years. Sometimes he participated in the CaliforniaLyme on-line support group. In 2011, he and his young family attended the Sacramento Lymewalk, which is where the accompanying photo was taken. Last summer, he was featured on the Inanna House website as the “Artist of the Month.” The website has his Lyme story in his own words and showcases many beautiful photographs he’s taken.
His story encompasses themes that are all too common for Lyme patients: He was bitten by ticks during military training. He developed a bull’s-eye rash. His rash and accompanying symptoms were dismissed by his doctors, and then he was dismissed from the military because he was too sick to carry on. He didn’t test positive on the standard Lyme tests because the tests are lousy. As he wrote on the Inanna website:
Eventually, a friend of mine who suffers from Lyme informed me how useless the normal blood test for Lyme disease actually is and said I should get tested through a different lab, one that offered a more accurate test. The test finally came back positive, and so for the last six years of my life I have been fighting Lyme.
Because of a medical establishment that follows the Lyme treatment guidelines of Infectious Diseases Society of America, this young man—and countless other people—could not get diagnosed early after infection, when treatment would be most effective. And because the IDSA pretends that chronic Lyme disease doesn’t exist, and insurance companies are happy to go along with that fiction (why pay for treatment when there’s “nothing wrong”?) he couldn’t get properly tested or treated without paying out of pocket. He further wrote on the Inanna website:
Unfortunately, due to the cost of treatment and the unwillingness of Insurance Companies to help cover it, I haven’t always been able to do everything my Doctor has wanted me to in order to get better. But, I do what I can.
Only last month, Jeremiah created a “GoFundMe” page, which asks friends and family to donate to a patient’s medical care. As recently as 10 days ago, he posted this update:
I know that so many people are struggling financially right now. But I really really need all the help I can get for my treatment. So if anyone can donate anything to help me keep getting treated for my Lyme disease it would help me out more then you’ll ever know.
Yesterday afternoon, I received a message that Jeremiah Katches passed away Friday night. Word spread quickly through the on-line Lyme community. Even those without a personal connection to Jeremiah are stricken at the news. The Lyme community has lost another one of its own.
Jeremiah, we weep for you and your family and the whole rotten state of affairs that has brought us to this point. We vow to keep fighting in your memory.
A memorial service for Jeremiah (Jimmy) Katches will be at 1 pm, Saturday, March 2, at Foothill Christian Fellowship, 1100 Sugar Pine Road, Meadow Vista, CA
Donations to a fund for his family’s expenses can be mailed to:
Jeremiah James Katches Family Memorial, C/O US Bank, PO Box 1093, Colfax CA 95713. (Donations can also made at any US Bank branch.)
The Auburn Lyme support group is compiling a “Remembrance Book” for the family. You may email a poem or other message to: auburnlymesupport@hotmail.com Please send as soon as possible, since the book will be presented on March 2.
TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s VP for Education and Outreach. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.
Related posts:
TOUCHED BY LYME: Hope for those who have fallen through the medical cracks
TOUCHED BY LYME: Former military wife now a Lyme warrior
Jeremiah 29v ; Lyme + lisäinfektiot
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