Community Corner

Ridgefield Mother, Daughter Battle Misconceptions of Lyme Disease

Jennifer and Katy Reid are raising awareness about tick-borne diseases and new ways to cope with chronic illness.

A Ridgefield family stricken with Lyme disease reached out to the community to support others coping with tick-borne illness and raise awareness about a disease that many still do not believe in.

Now, 10 years after Jennifer Reid started the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force, her daughter Katy, the youngest family member diagnosed with Lyme, has returned from college back home to Connecticut and joined her mother in her outreach efforts.

Fifteen years ago, multiple members of the Reid family were positively diagnosed with Lyme disease.

“We realized in meeting people along the way that there was very little information out there in the community,” Jennifer said during a recent interview. “Community-wise, there wasn’t any place to turn — like there was if you had cancer or diabetes — there were no support groups you could turn to.”

Reid and fellow Ridgefield resident Karen Gaudian started the Task Force to raise awareness and began holding regular monthly support groups to give patients and caregivers a place to discuss what was happening in their lives and methods for coping.

Those efforts were expanded to all of Fairfield County in 2008 when a state grant made the BLAST Prevention Program possible, however important pieces to the puzzle were still missing.

Katy Reid, a graduate of University of San Diego currently working on her Masters of Clinic Mental Health Counseling at WestConn, was diagnosed with Lyme as a 16-year-old junior at Ridgefield High School. At the time, Lyme was becoming more well known but it was still largely misunderstood, even by those dealing with it personally.

“It’s very challenging having a disease that people don’t always believe in,” she said. “I felt very misunderstood and there’s a part of you that has trouble not believing those people who say it’s not real.”

Katy said she didn’t cope well at first, struggling with school, anxiety and a disease that sapped her stamina, with no real place to turn to. Though support groups were established for older residents, as a young adult there was no place where she could relate.

As she began treatment and started to get better, “It assured me were on the right route and this was real,” she said.

Returning to Connecticut, Katy started working with youth with PTSD, Autism and chronic illnesses and started up the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Support Group for Young Adults for ages 14-30. The group meets on the second Saturday of each month, with the next scheduled for Aug. 10 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the BLAST Lyme Office in the Town Hall Annex.

Along with the newer support group, the Task Force is adding another general meeting focused on coping skills and include evening sessions beginning in September.

“It’s become a wonderful community,” said Katy, who now lives in Bristol, adding that the coping sessions — the second Friday of the month, starting Sept. 13, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ridgefield Visiting Nurses Association Offices at 90 East Ridge — will be supervised by a licensed counselor.

The support groups have “always provided a safe haven for Lyme patients and caretakers of Lyme patients, a place where they feel that people care about them and understand what’s happening to them,” Jennifer said. However the newest group will more than “just a meeting/discussion place — it’s for people who are ready to learn new ways to cope.”

The Reids said they have also had multiple requests for weekly meetings, something that might come to be in the future.

For now, the mother and daughter are just trying to get the word out that the struggle is real but help exists.

Get updates about upcoming seminars and meeting on the Ridgefield Lyme Disease Task Force’s Facebook page or email CommunityLDConnections@gmail.com.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here