Finally - a Meeting with Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott!

JUL 23, 2017 — We have some amazing news!
It only took us (Sue Faber and Jennifer Kravis) 3 trips to Ottawa, many meetings with MPs and Senators, a few media interviews, plugging a petition that now has 41,289 signatures and almost 11,000 comments, reading hundreds of personal Lyme letters and thousands of Petition comments, and and 6 months of Sue calling and writing Minister Philpott's office requesting a face to face meeting ... to finally be invited to meet Minister Philpott in September!

At this meeting, we will be personally delivering the thousands of Lyme Letters and speaking to the suffering and injustice inflicted upon thousands of Canadians coast to coast.

We have become accidental activists. That's what happens when you get Lyme Disease in Canada. Then realize there's NO help or recognition, and you start to really suffer, lose your job and realize you have to leave Canada and spend your retirement savings to get treated. Then you realize your kids have it too. Then you realize this is happening to thousands and thousands of others. Then you get confused, and experience disbelief, then you start feel sad, then you get MAD. Then you realize, you know so much, and it's so wrong, and now you are hooked. You HAVE to do something because there are so many others who are so much sicker than you that CAN'T do anything. So those of us who can, MUST.

We have seen that Minister Philpott is passionate about the needs of the underserved and forgotten, and she herself was raised on the value of serving others. She has written that she chose the medical profession so that she could “come in contact with people to address real needs to make a real difference”. She stated that there “will always be opposition” and that leading the Ministry of Health would be a “daunting task”. We trust she has been put in this position for a time such as this. We have hope that Minister Philpott, who is a caring, kind and committed mother and politician, will do the right thing. We need justice, fair and equitable treatment, mercy and hope. 

We need our faith in Canada’s health system for Lyme sufferers restored.
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We both struggle with serious health effects from Lyme Disease. We have sick children at home. We have busy lives and families to care for. This is not our idea of a good time, and this is not that comfortable for us, we have never done anything like this before. We are nervous, and feel a huge responsibility. We don't know how this will go. We know we have the hearts and support of TENS of THOUSANDs of Canadians.

BUT, this is important. Important enough that we are leaving our families, and flying to our capital city to DO something.
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Because this is ridiculous. And WRONG. Canadians are literally begging to be heard, writing pages and pages of the saddest stories of neglect, abuse, denial and mistreatment. Children are hurting, and are being shockingly mistreated and UNTREATED. And this is putting MORE and MORE Canadians at risk as the threat of Lyme Disease and the expansion of ticks just grows and grows.
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Here is a recent newspaper article featuring our Lyme advocacy work.
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/7238439-burlington-and-oakville-women-taking-lyme-crusade-to-ottawa/