Empire State Lyme Disease
Association announces Capital Region Teens With Lyme Group
Information:
Teenagers face unique challenges when dealing with Lyme Disease. Not only do
they need to cope with the ravages of the illness itself, both physically and
mentally, but they are often faced with missing long stretches of school, and
thus missing out on important peer interaction and a sense of inclusion in their
community, Social media serves as a double edged sword in this scenario - it
both allows teens to keep some sense of connection with their peer group. but
more often than not, it can also create a sense of "looking in through the
window", a sense that life is going on without them and they are being left
behind, creating an even bigger sense of isolation then if they were not
connected electronically.
Sophie Calderon, a local teenager who has been battling Lyme for over 3 years,
along with her mom Michele, are seeking to fill some of the gap in our
teenager's lives by creating a social support meet up group for teens in the
area. They are currently reaching out to this group, along with area schools, to
get an idea of how many area teens would be interested in joining a local
support group. When they get a count, they will determine a central venue for
meeting.
What you can do: If your teen would be interested in getting together with
other area teens who are dealing with Lyme, drop Sophie and Michele an email to
CapitalRegionTeensWithLyme@gmail.com and they
will add your name to their email list and start sending out information.
Thank you so much.
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