#Lymestrong

July 13, 2017

Author: Paula Jackson Jones
Published: 07/13/2017 about my 04/27/2014 life changing event

"Given your latest test results and how you are feeling, I would say that you've gone into remission"

Those were the words I heard my Lyme literate provider speak to me through the phone. I think I was in as much shock as I was the day I had received my diagnosed ~ but this felt so much better.

And the first thing I did as soon as I hung up?

I registered for the Jimmy The Greek 5K Walk/Run for Lyme Disease. I told my husband as soon as he got home and I think he thought I was nuts because I had less than 3 weeks until the event and I had never ever trained for a 5K before or any K event. Ok, I'll admit, I'm not a very athletic person, not even before I got sick.

But something told me that I had to do this.

That small inner voice that vaguely reminded me of the voice I heard the night I laid on the bathroom floor, in the midst of treatment, convinced I was dying.

I didn't ignore it then and I wasn't about to ignore it now.

So my next call was to my parents and then my sister. As always, I had their unwaivering support.

And so, on Sunday, April 27, 2014, with my supports in place and my husband pledging to walk every step with me ~ I took my place behind the runners and most of the walkers, towards the end of the Start line and waited for the race to start...

I don't remember much of the race. I was trying to breathe and walk and not trip and stay focused and I kept remembering my husband saying "step up, step down" as we approached the sidewalks. I recall people passing me and I kept hearing my husband say "Don't worry about them, you're doing just fine."

I was looking for my sister and niece but couldn't seem to find them but I knew that they were somewhere along the race route.

I could hear my mom up ahead of me telling the helpers on the side of the road that "hear comes my daughter and she just won her battle with Lyme Disease" with as much pride as a mother could have.

I kept looking over my shoulder and I saw my dad behind me. My dad is a cancer survivor who was walking in this race to support me ~ with only one lung!

I had no idea where I was going or how long I had been walking when we turned the corner and my husband said "the finish line is right there." I couldn't see it but I trusted that we were approaching it.

The next I knew, I was crossing the finish line and my friend, Angela Columbe, captured these photos that are forever etched in my heart and mind.

And as I made my way inside to where all the runners were gathering, that same shock and awe that I felt both with my diagnosis and remission came over me ~ I had just completed a 5K. I had won my battle with late stage neurological Lyme Disease and co-infections.

I was trying to cool down and catch my breath and find a place to sit, when I heard someone say, "Are you Paula Jackson Jones?" and I turned to face someone who was about to change my life in ways that I never imagined. There stood Angele Rice.

The following year (2015), Angele and I and our families attended the Jimmy the Greek 5K Walk/Run for Lyme Disease but we had just held our first Annual MLDSE conference and had been out late the previous night ~ so we volunteered instead and we stood at the finish line and cheered on every single person who crossed that finish line ~ hooting and hollaring and creating such a ruckus, soaking in all the smiles we saw on the faces, knowing the feeling of accomplishment that they were feeling.