Kyla Puklus

A passionate individual; a world traveler; a teacher; a learner; a lover of life.

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Member for: 2 years 1 week
Location: Suburbia, California

I am a person who happens to have Lyme Disease. I am an individual who thinks she's special; my life is valuable.

I think I was raised this way, my mom always told me that I 'mattered'. This probably set the foundation for me not to settle with the diagnosis from my first doctor: "You have fibromyalgia. We have no idea what causes it, no idea how to cure it, and you will just have to suffer for the rest of your life." Yeah, that didn't sit well with me either. So the search began.

Being a a biology student, former field biologist and now science teacher, I began to systematically look into other plausable causes of my pain--pain that started in my lower back (must be the bed, right? Maybe I need to lose weight? Oh, I know, I need to 'strengthen my core'!) and eventually manifested into loss of feeling in part of my face, night sweats, jaw pain, neck pain and extreme fatigue. I knew I couldn't be making this stuff up: Why would anyone want to be this sick? Some days I couldn't even stay upright for more than a few hours.

After a few years and many different doctors, diagnoses and treatments, I finally began treatment for Lyme Disease, Babesia and Bartonella. After a few more years of fruitless efforts, I stumbled across Amy Scher's story of embryonic stem cell therapy in Delhi, India. With an IV in my arm dripping three times a day during Summer vacation, I sat in bed and systematically read her blog. For the first time in years, my gut quivered with a feeling I hadn't felt in years: hope.

I think I read in the book The Alchemist, "If you want something bad enough, the Universe will conspire to make it happen for you." I knew I had to go to India. Within a year, my dream began to come together; somehow I managed to refinance my home, recruit brave friends as caretakers and allow myself to receive donations from loved ones. I'm actually going!! I leave in mid-June and return mid-August, 2010.

Through this blog, I plan not only to document my emotional journey, but my medical journey as well. I plan to blog about the travel, the culture and the daily medical procedures of receiving embryonic stem cell therapy. Through this blog, you will see me heal, one cell at a time.

~Kyla