Episode 305: Patient Zero - an interview with Casey Fillian

Casey Fillian is a 45-year-old personal trainer, massage therapist, and competitive runner from Marlboro, New Jersey.   Ms. Fillian is also a Lyme disease pioneer: during her childhood she was one of the first people in the United States diagnosed with Lyme. After suffering a tick bite while attending a summer camp, she “developed a fever, general malaise… a bad flu, [her] knee blew up to 3 times its size, and [her] torso was covered in a rash”.   Although her parents did not believe the “knee swelling was related to the flu”, the family pediatrician “was suspicious of a new disease [thought] only in Connecticut at the time”. “He sent us to Yale University Hospital and the doctors were able to confirm and start me on an oral antibiotic protocol” followed by “admission to Monmouth Medical Center… for IV therapy”.   Her childhood experience inspired her to make “fitness and exercise a priority in [her] life”. She pursued a career as a fitness professor and trained for and ran in several distance and marathon events. In 2017 after returning home from a marathon training event, she discovered a tick embedded on her hip.   The second/adult tick bite was followed by a bullseye rash, sepsis, and chronic illness. She has since treated with 3 courses of antibiotics via PICC line and herbal supplements allowing her to return part time to work serving the senior population in a fitness facility for people 62 and older.   If you would like to learn how a Lyme disease pioneer was twice knocked down by Lyme but got up each time twice as strong, then tune in now! PS Adina Bercowicz, founder and president of Lyme TV, special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!