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>> I had daily headaches and I was exhausted
and aches and pains and I couldn't figure it out,
but I knew myself well enough to know it wasn't right.
>> It's still very common for people not to know
they have the early stage of Lyme disease.
I see many patients that the very first time Lyme disease
is thought of is when the knee swells up.
>> I never ever had any kind of bull's-eye rash
or none of the typical symptoms and, of course,
in the hospital the tests came back negative
so nobody ever suspected Lyme.
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>> This is a disease that can strike over 300,000 people
in the United States.
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>> I think it's fair to call it an epidemic,
it's an expanding epidemic.
Every year there's more cases than there were the year
before because the geographic range
expands as the infected tick populations
move into new regions.
The Lyme Research Center
was started a little over two years ago.
We're really the first Lyme Center in a major department
of medicine in the United States that's really focusing
on patient-based research in all aspects of Lyme disease.
>> So we're treating people as if they're a complete book.
And so we're trying to follow them from the first chapter,
the second chapter, deep into their story.
>> One interesting thing is some people get it,
their treated for it and it's over with.
So, there are two distinctions.
One is the people who get Lyme and they're lucky enough
that the antibiotics work and they're good to go.
Then there's this Lyme disorder.
>> What happens is they're treated, the rash goes away
or the manifestation diagnosed then goes away,
but they're left with these very pervasive symptoms.
Fatigue, trouble focusing and concentrating,
muscular skeletal pain, and these symptoms
really can be quite severe and they can really profoundly
affect a person's ability to function.
>> You just feel like you've been running on batteries
your whole life and you had six batteries in you
and somebody came a long and took five out
and you've gotta still do the same things,
but on one battery.
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>> John: What our research tries to do
is bridge those patient's illnesses
to the finest in laboratory research.
>> So we really wanted to do high quality research
that characterizes those patients that kind of captures
a range of information so that we can ask questions
through a bunch of disciplines.
>> John: So it's what we call bedside to bench research.
Patients with Lyme disease are seen in the clinic,
but then their blood and other biologic specimens
are transferred to our laboratories where the scientists
and immunologists at Hopkins try to understand the impact
of Lyme disease on our patient's immune systems,
on their health, on what's really driving their illness.
>> So these are live cells that we put in a very special
media and allows them to be frozen down
so that we can then retrieve them in a year, two years,
maybe even 10 years from now for study,
using technologies that we haven't even developed yet.
>> I was quite envious when I learned about the study
and I wanted to be a part that, as do I think
a lot of, you wanna feel that you can be useful in some way,
even if it's a very small way.
>> To be candid, I was like, "Okay, well,
"I got Lyme disease, let's go get it,"
and I didn't think it was gonna be that serious,
but it turned out to be a lot more severe
and more serious and more complex than anything
I had imagined.
With every patient that John sees, we're getting one step
closer to really understanding this disease
and being able to eradicate it or to be able to prevent it.
>> It's a significant issue and it impacts
on people's well-being and their productivity
and their sense of self-worth.
>> It's wonderful to know that there's research going on.
>> Chris: You can't beat Hopkins as far as research.
>> There's no doubt in my mind I would be in a very
different place had I not come here.
>> The key is to support Hopkins,
not only with funding, but with just education
and spreading the word that not only is there hope,
but there is a need to find an answer to this disease.
We're gonna win this.
>> Talking to you now, I think back on it,
I'm so much, so much better than I was.
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