Lyme Disease Awareness Advocate Logan McCulloch
Lyme disease survivor Logan “Unitic” McCulloch has worked to spread awareness about the illness since he contracted it in the spring of 2011 when he was bitten by more than a dozen tiny Deer Tick nymphs.
"I was hiking with my son in Mammoth Cave National Park when my life changed forever”, said McCulloch. “Like a lot of people bitten by ticks that carry Lyme disease, I was ignorant. I suffered for months with severe migrating joint pain, disturbing memory loss and “brain fog” and then crushing fatigue. I had no idea what I was suffering from and neither did several doctors. Five months after my tick bites I finally saw a Tick-Borne Disease specialist and was accurately diagnosed with disseminated Lyme disease and Bartonella, a common tick-borne co-infection.”
"I was hiking with my son in Mammoth Cave National Park when my life changed forever”, said McCulloch. “Like a lot of people bitten by ticks that carry Lyme disease, I was ignorant. I suffered for months with severe migrating joint pain, disturbing memory loss and “brain fog” and then crushing fatigue. I had no idea what I was suffering from and neither did several doctors. Five months after my tick bites I finally saw a Tick-Borne Disease specialist and was accurately diagnosed with disseminated Lyme disease and Bartonella, a common tick-borne co-infection.”
[Check out our recent video interview with Logan here: Promoting Tick Awareness while Living with Lyme Disease]
With his health much improved after almost a year of intense treatment, Logan is on a mission to encourage people in every state to take precautions to avoid tick bites. And if they are bitten, to take the proper steps including seeing a Tick-Borne Disease (TBD) specialist for an accurate clinical diagnosis and appropriate treatment. In 2013 Logan spent five months backpacking the Appalachian Trail raising awareness for Lyme disease and teaching about TBD safety.
“I wore my Insect Shield protective clothing every day and never found even a single crawling tick on my body," Logan said. "While I was on the trail, the CDC raised their annual estimate of new cases of Lyme disease ten-fold, to more than 300,000 new infections each year. It is by far the fastest growing epidemic in North America. Four years ago my Louisville, KY based Lyme disease support group had about 30 members. Since that time we’ve had well over 200 people attend our meetings.”
In 2015 Logan continued his awareness and education mission as he backpacked and bike packed more than 4,100 miles coast to coast from Delaware to California.