Dave ~ Lyme Disease

This is a letter one of Dave's daughters wrote explaining their family, and her attempt to protect the Doctor who she knew may have saved her Dad. Since this letter was written her older sister is now being treated for Chronic Lyme.

Hi, my name is Kelsey and I am a 20-year-old college student from northern Illinois. I have a mom and a dad, two older sisters, a wonderful extended family including a brother-in-law and an 8-month-old neice that we all absolutely adore. You could say that it sounds like we have a pretty great family right there but one thing about us makes our family life a little more difficult than an average family of that status. My father has chronic Lyme disease. If you do not have anyone in your family suffering from Lyme you probably can not imagine what it is like. In order for you to see a little of what it is like I will attempt to show you into our little world.

Like I stated previously, my father David Marsh has Lyme. My 'father David Marsh who has Lyme' is not the same 'father David Marsh who does not have Lyme'. Growing up I saw my dad at night just like most families like mine ... unless he was working late; on those days I did not see him. My father was a hard worker. He worked outside, stayed late at work, went in early and went to work whenever he would get called to. He never used his sick days and not once did I see him call into work. When he was not at work, he went hunting, fishing, did yardwork, played outside with his children & his dogs and mostly just enjoyed the outdoors. Lately I do not see my dad as much; but not because he is not around. Sometimes I wish I could spend more time with him but it is not always that easy. I am a college student now; I have my own life outside of my mom and dad, I go to school and I work 40-50 hours a week during the summer. My father used to be the one working all the time; he probably worked more than 70 hours some weeks. He can not do that anymore. The father I just introduced you to was the daddy I had before Lyme disease had him.

The father I have now is often confused, very paranoid and always worrying about Lyme. Some times it gets frustrating trying to talk to him because he has a hard time concentrating. He is always thinking about his Lyme, his doctors and his finances. My dad does not trust most doctors anymore; for years he would complain about his doctors and how they were not helping him at all. I do not hear that anymore since he has been seeing Dr. Hoffman. I also never really saw my dad worry about money as much before he had Lyme. He was able to work more often and bring in more income. My father can not work as much anymore; he is often in pain, his arms, back and legs have started to give out and his hearing is progressively getting worse. My father has also become very depressed since he became ill.

About seven or eight years ago is when my father became ill. Doctors did not know what to do. They told him it was all in his head, they made random diagnoses and they even put him on a lot of medication. My father is not a stupid man; he may get a little confused some times now but he certainly is not stupid. He was smart enough to realize that these doctors he was seeing were not going to help. I honestly do not know as much about my father's disease as I should because I am not always around and because of that I am not sure how he came across Dr. Hoffman but I do know that he truly cares about the man. Dr. Hoffman, I believe, saved my father's life. Since my dad began seeing Dr. Hoffman he has been much happier. Now that Dr. Hoffman's license is being questioned for suspension, my father is devastated. If you take away his license, you are also taking away my father's hope and once again, his happiness. In my eyes, Dr. Hoffman is a savior to the Lyme community. Unfortunately, I have never met him but he must be an amazing man to do the things he knew.

If you choose to suspend Dr. Hoffman's license, I want you to see that you are not only effecting him and his patients that adore him, you are also breaking the hearts of their loved ones. No one has helped the way Dr. Hoffman has and these people really need him.
In order for you to fully grasp our family I have also included a few photos for you. I hope it helps you to recognize how important Dr. Hoffman really is.

 This is my dad and my neice. Her name is Addison Grace and
she makes my father happier than I have seen him in a very long
time. My dad does not smile much anymore but this little girl right
here and Dr. Hoffman have begun to bring out that smile again.

This is part of my father's support group. He really does love this
group. As you can see, most of the members are adults but not
that little girl right in the center. She also has Lyme. If you take
away Dr. Hoffman's doctor you are taking away her life. Dr.
Hoffman is also that wonderful little girl's doctor. No one has
helped her family the way he has.

This is my Mom and Dad. My mom
has been more supportive in my dad's fight than I ever thought
anyone could be. She is absolutely amazing to my father. She
travels to see Dr. Hoffman with my father and can not imagine
my father's life without having Dr. Hoffman.

I hope you took the time to read this and I hope it let you in just a little to what it really is like to live with someone with Lyme disease. Dr. Hoffman has been a savior to my father's life and I truly can not imagine having to go back to times without him.

Kelsey on the right.