Suicide Sources
Patient Stories, Doctors Info, Deaths by Suicide
“Yet, nothing he tried could carry him away from the pain. Ultimately, according to his family, Bryan “just wanted the pain to stop.” On May 2, 2011, he ended his own life, leaving his parents to read the following words he’d penned for them earlier.”
https://www.lymedisease.org/bryanbower/
Yesterday, I learned that a friend of mine committed suicide this past weekend. I met her years ago. We lived hours apart in Massachusetts. Neither of us were sick then. Soon after we met, though, I started to experience a downslide in my health and changes in my life and we lost touch. About two years ago, she contacted me in desperate need. She too, was debilitatingly sick. We both had advanced neurologic Lyme Disease.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/4/10/1082312/-My-Friend-with-Lyme-Committed-Suicide
On July 8th, police in Ocala, Florida, made a shocking discovery in a travel trailer at the side of a highway–the bodies of 48-year-old George Strobos and his 49-year-old wife Jonalyn. It turns out the couple, both suffering from advanced Lyme disease, had taken their own lives. Last night, their son, Michael Strobo, of Austin, Texas, made a series of heartfelt postings about his parents on the CALDA Facebook page. Michael subsequently gave me permission to re-post his writings here.
https://www.lymedisease.org/530/
NBC News- Personal Story
MSNBC Shares Story
http://www.lyme-disease-research-database.com/lyme_disease_blog_files/msnbc-lyme-story.html
Dr. Cameron- Here are some of the reasons I believe people with Lyme Disease commit suicide.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1037462
Dr. Cameron
Jemsek- Comments to NC Medical Board
“Most of my HIV patients used to die … now most don’t … Some still do, of course. My Lyme patients, the sickest ones, want to die but they can’t. That’s right, they want to die but they can’t. The most common cause of death in Lyme disease is suicide. In the current day, if one compares HIV/AIDS to Lyme Borreliosis Complex patients in issues of 1) access to care, 2) current level of science, and 3) the levels of acceptance by doctors and the public, patients suffering with advanced Lyme Borreliosis Complex have an inferior quality of life compared to those with HIV/AIDS in NC. This statement may seem heretical to some of you, I’m sure. But I can say this with authority — and I am really the only one in this room today who has the intellectual and experiential authority to do that.”
http://jemsekspecialty.com/ncmb-remarks/
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. Seeing signs for this everywhere provoked me to do a little research on the correlation between Lyme and suicide.
http://briannabedell.wixsite.com/brisjourneywithlyme/single-post/2015/09/27/Lyme-and-Suicide
Patients Trying To Help Patients Because No Help Available
Patients comments- posts
http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3818
Patients comments- posts
Patient Story
https://lymestorm.com/2016/05/04/phoenix-rising/
Jeroen Link ended his life in December 2013, because he could not pay his treatments for Lyme anymore. This is his story, told by his father Johan.
http://on-lyme.org/en/sufferers/lyme-stories/item/10-jeroen-s-suicide-due-to-lyme
Is Lyme Disease Fatal?
http://jennaslymeblog.com/is-lyme-disease-fatal/
Patient Story- Called Suicide Hotline
http://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3116217
Need Lyme literate therapist- feeling suicidal
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/lyme-literate-therapist.32162/
People who died of Lyme disease (29 cases, 13% were from suicide)
Carole M. C. Alton, Angela Amato, Grace Amond, Harold G. Anderson, James Andrew “Andy” Anderson, Edward Stanley Arnold, Deiby Ashkenazy, June L. Anderson Atkins (Alzheimer’s & Lyme), Lothar Bachmann, Julian B. Backus, Sue Baiata (suicide), Jerry Balistreri, Peter Anthony Banducci (ALS & Lyme), Gregory Lee Bankert, Patricia Jones Bauman, Moonface Bear (Leukemia & Lyme), Lonnie Benedict (ALS & Lyme), Eric Bengtson (suicide), Larry Bennett, Kurt Hilding Billing (suicide), Jonathan Bleefield, John Bleiweiss (LLMD and Lyme patient, LLMD-persecution related suicide), Deborah Jean Bodden (suicide), William “Billy” Boesché (ALS & Lyme), Bryan Bower, Judith Ross Boynton (ALS & Lyme), Charlie Bradley, Martha J. “Marty” Bradley, Scott Brazil (ALS & Lyme), Lauren Brooks, Anne Brown, Harry Burke, Pamela Truscott Byrne, Terry Cain (ALS & Lyme), Jerry Carrington (suicide), Watt Carter, Kathleen Cavert, Phil Chapman (ALS & Lyme), Carrie Chase, Bill Chinnock (suicide), Theresa Jean Wells Clay, Nicole Coats, Elizabeth A. Bowley Coen (suicide), Michael Coers (ALS & Lyme), David Cole, Jane Colfax, Luther Conant (ALS & Lyme), Patricia Elaine Jamison Cooley, Kimberly Ann “Kym” Nagle Cooper, Rachel Coxon, Vickie Crawford (ALS & Lyme), Alasdair Crockett (suicide), Katherine Alderson Crowe (ALS & Lyme), Michael Cunningham (ALS & Lyme), Jon Williams Davis, Carole A. Van Doorn (ALS & Lyme), John Drulle, James “Jimmy” Duarte, Martin Frank Dumke, Jeannette Eichelberger, Martin Eisenhardt, Kathleen Gambon Erdei, John A. Every, Herbert “Bart” Fenolio (initially diagnosed with ALS, then Lyme), Frank John Ferrigno, Ronald S. Ferris (suicide), Rick Fincham, Paul Fjare, Linda K. Jones Flory, Jamie Forschner, Shirley Forsman, Geri Robin Teitelbaum Fosseen, Joan Maura Friedenberg, Linda M. Fuller, Brittany Margarete Gallgher, Freida R. Gaultney, William D. Geiser, Julia Gilbert (possible suicide), Doris M. Grade, Gordon P. Grafton Jr., Michael Keith “Mike” Gregory (ALS & Lyme), Bryan Grimes Jr., Ryan Guerin, Stephen L. Gumport, Kenneth Hagen (MS & Lyme), Robert Michael Hanson, Peter Edgar Hare, Lila Star Smith Harms (suicide), Harry Hartner (suicide), Angela Quinn Hausman, Susan Hawkes-Koons (ALS & Lyme), Michelle Heap, Sue Ellen Helms, Alexandria Hermstad (ALS & Lyme), Stephen Allen Herring, Michael Hinsberger (MS & ALS & Lyme), Deanice Hinton, Brian Hirsch (ALS & Lyme), Robert J. Hoffmann (ALS & Lyme), Ted Paul Richard Hoggard, Barry Horton (ALS & Lyme), Hilary Fuller Inks, Everett “Ed” Francis Ives, Vincent Jachetta, Hartley Everette Jackson (Alzheimer’s & Lyme), Karl Joedicke, Glenn Edward Killion, Dillon Jamison King (suicide), Lindsay K Kinneberg, Catherine Klapak, James Paine Koch, James Kohnle (allegedly murdered by his wife, allegedly due to his Lyme), Theodore F. “Ted” Kotula, Vernon Dale Kyle, Christina Marie “Christy” Lambeth, Erwin Lamp (suicide), Jon Pierre Lavallee, Jena Hellman Leblang, Jason Thomas Lee, Michael G. Linebaugh (ALS & Lyme), Jan Linton (self-defenestration – verdict of death by misadventure), Vicki Logan, Preston H. Longino, Ellen Agnes Loughlin, James “Jim” W. Loughran, Teresa “Terri” Royer MacKnight, Gabriele Magnotta, Bruno C. Malvezzi, J. Howard Marshall Jr., John Martini, James Roderick Mason, Alfredo Mathew Jr. (suicide), Susan Mayer-Smith (died of self-medication against the pain), Ann H. McChesney, Kimberly Carol McEachern, David A. McHoul, Karl McManus, Edward L. “Ted” McNeil, Chester A. Mellen, Kelly Renee Merando, Balsorah Lamar Miller (ALS & Lyme), Liz Missett (Lupus & Lyme), Craig W. Moon (Leukemia & Lyme), Shirley L. Moore, Jesse Jonah Goldsmith Morgan, Richard T. Mullin, DeWayne Murphy,
Theda Myint (suicide):
Kaiti Nagel, Steve Nelson, Michael Newman (set himself on fire – open verdict), William “Bill” Lee Nichols (suicide), Georgia Junior “Junie” Nicol, George Nijboer, James B. Olson (initially diagnosed with Asthma, then ALS, then Lyme), Ed Parker (ALS & Lyme), Brett Anthony Paul, Pat Pepper (ALS & Lyme), Gilbert “Gib” Thornton Perkins, Jennifer Elaine Pesci, Andrea Ortiz Peterson, Brian Pierson (ALS and Lyme), John Thomas “Tommy” Pitner, John Douglas Powell (ALS & Lyme), Isabella Radestock, Andrea Raphael, Russell Paul Reach, Teresa McGilley Redlingshafer, Amanda Reese, Frank Ray Rifkin, Kevin Ring (suicide), Meredith Ruth Roberts, Thomas “Curry” Roberts (suicide), Richard R. Robley, Karen Johnson Rose, Adam C. Rowett (suicide), Harold Roy (likely suicide), James Sanders, Jim Sazani, Timothy Alan “Tim” Selepec, Amanda Schmidt, Stephen Ross Seibert, Priscilla Moulton Shafer (ALS & Lyme), Mary Shea (suicide), Steve Philip Shears, Cailean Walker Sheeran (suicide), Hilary Skinner (suicide), C. Gordon Smith, Roberta J. Sorbello-Luongo (ALS & Lyme & coinfections), Vincent Sota (ALS & Lyme), Johnette B. Sowder, Erin Elizabeth Spillers, Robert “Robby” Stamps, Beverly Stanton, Lori Hall Steele (ALS or Lyme), George R. Strobo & Jonalyn Maureen Strobo (dual suicide, both had Lyme), Karen Sullivan (suicide), Jodi Lynn Swift, Christopher Peter Thomas, David Lee Thomas, Mike Thomas (ALS & Lyme), Jenny Umpress, Clarissa Tilghman Yost, Philip Trapolsi, Cynthia Tolles Tseng, Carlton Tucker (“fudged number”), Jenny Umphress, Myrna Vallejo, Piet Van Leer, Diane Marie Antonia Varsi, Peter Vyselaar, Bryce H. Wagner, Sterling Edgar Walton, Ellen Havican Watson (likely suicide), Barbara Frances Weaver, Steven F. Wells (ALS & Lyme),
Leslie Rae Wermers (Lyme & coinfections. Interview from 2007, died in 2008. Official cause of death: “cardiac arrest”..),
JoAnne Whitaker (invented the 100% accurate Q-RIBb test for Lyme), George Wendell White Jr. (suicide), Robert Earl Wicker, Michael Wilson, Travis Allen Wilson, Lori Lynn Daman Widlund, Joyce Marie Woods, Kendall Wooten, William James Zell (ALS & Lyme).
All these people could have been saved when a timely diagnosis would have been made and proper treatment would have been administered. 13% committed suicide.
http://owndoc.com/lyme/dying-of-lyme-disease-case-fatality-rate-nearly-100/
Lyme Disease Obituaries/Memorial- Small number are suicides
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/3/16292
Angelfire- Lyme Disease Memorial Pages
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/lymedisease/Lyme/Memorial.html
IOM Report- Critical Needs and Gaps in Understanding Prevention, Amelioration, and Resolution of Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases
Committee on Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases: The State of the Science; Institute of Medicine
Page A-77- “Seven percent of the respondents in the NatCapLyme survey said they had attempted suicide after contracting Lyme disease and 42 percent had suicidal thoughts.”
Page A-79- “Many teenagers, overwhelmed by the illness and socially isolated, find it increasingly difficult to cope with life. Parents of children 8 to 16 years old reported in the Columbia University study that 41 percent of their children had expressed suicidal thoughts and 11 percent had made a suicidal gesture (Tager et al, 2001). Among the most disturbing results of the NatCapLyme survey were that 54 percent of the respondents reported that their children with Lyme borreliosis suffered from depression and 13 percent reported that their children had attempted suicide. Such suicidal ideation arises from an understandable weariness from chronic illness. Most poignant is the simple statement from a Lyme-infected child, “I just don’t want to live anymore.”
Last Updated- April 2019
Lucy Barnes
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