Welcome to Tri-Cities Central, a twice-weekly newsletter highlighting local happenings in Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles and surrounding communities.
Get yours: subscribe here. Refer a friend: share this link.
For nearly 10 years, Terri McCormick took two of her young children to more than 20 specialists looking for an explanation.
Her kids — bitten by ticks here in Geneva when they were just four and six — cycled through diagnosis after diagnosis. Chronic fatigue. Migraines. Fibromyalgia. Lupus. POTS.
One was repeatedly referred to psychiatry, as if her swollen joints, chronic pain, and bruised hands were all in her head.
“I had an instinct that the doctors were missing something, but I was a young mom and I trusted them,” Terri said. “I carry a deep sense of sadness and guilt from that time in my life. My children depended on me, and while I was searching for answers, the disease continued to progress, and their symptoms grew worse.”
The real answer didn't come until 2015. Finally, a doctor pointed to Lyme disease and co-infections, which were missed for a decade by a healthcare system she believes was chasing symptoms at the expense of identifying root causes.
The turning point came one night in her Geneva home, when one of her daughters' hands started bruising from the fingertips all the way up her arm.
"I dropped to my knees in complete horror that night," Terri said. "I cried out to God and said, 'I will never turn away another family like me if you open the right doors and show me where healing can happen.'"
That experience, and the myriad stories she's heard since, became the foundation for her first book, “Being Misdiagnosed: Stories That Reveal the Hidden Epidemic of Lyme Disease”, releasing this spring.
She'll celebrate the launch with the community at a book signing and presentation on May 11 at Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva.
Twelve stories, one pattern
The book tells the stories of 12 real-life cases of people who were diagnosed with serious conditions like ALS, MS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, lupus, connective tissue disorders, and psychiatric illness — only to later find that tick-borne infections were actually behind their symptoms.
One woman was told she had three years to live with middle-stage ALS. Six years after identifying tick-borne illness as the actual cause, Terri said, she's still working 50-hour weeks and has reversed much of her decline.
"Lyme disease is known by many doctors as the great imitator," Terri said. "A lot of specialists aren't specifically trained in medical school with the complexities of tick-borne illness, and they're not looking for it."
Her hope is that the stories help readers recognize themselves, or someone in their lives, when reading the book.
"If you have a chronic illness and you don't feel like you fit exactly into the box you're supposed to fit into, then it’s probably a good idea to tested properly for tick-borne illness," she said.
After her own kids' diagnosis, Terri pursued board certifications in holistic health and Lyme disease through the Trinity School of Natural Health, served as a Lyme support group leader in Illinois, and now writes and advocates for LymeDisease.org.
A local problem, too
The stakes are real for folks in the Tri-Cities. Terri cited tick surveillance data showing that roughly 43% of deer ticks tested in DuPage and Kane counties are positive for Borrelia, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
That's nearly one in two ticks.
And while Lyme gets most of the attention, she said a single tick bite can also transmit co-infections like Bartonella and Babesia. Both of these can do real damage to the immune system and open the door to other chronic conditions, she says.
Terri also points to the standard testing protocol used across most of the U.S., which she said has a low accuracy rate and can rule out Lyme even when a patient has clear symptoms and a known tick bite. None of her own children ever tested positive on the first-tier screening.
"Every time we'd go to the ER or a specialist, they'd look at that first screening test and say Lyme disease was out of the question," Terri said. "Nobody ever connected the dots."
Simple prevention tips
Terri is happy to offer practical tick prevention, including a few things are worth passing along before we head into spring and summer:
Treat shoes and outdoor clothing with permethrin. It's what the U.S. military uses. Ticks that climb onto treated gear die. Don't apply it to skin, just clothing and footwear. It lasts about six weeks per application.
Throw your clothes in the dryer for 10 minutes after you've been outside. High heat kills hitchhikers; the washing machine doesn't.
Clean up leaf litter, downed branches, and damp hiding spots in your yard. Ticks want moisture and cover. Consider planting lemongrass, peppermint, lavender, or geraniums near patios — all natural tick repellents.
Wear light-colored clothing when hiking so ticks are easier to spot.
Do tick checks on yourself, your kids, and your pets after time outdoors. Behind the ears, behind the knees, along the waistband, between the toes, at the hairline.
"Children are at the highest risk because they roll around in the ground and play with their pets," Terri said. "And dogs are often tick taxis — they bring the ticks right into the house."
Terri also wrote a detailed piece on tick prevention for families, covering the kinds of environments where ticks quest, how they hitch rides on clothing, and what to pack in a basic tick kit before heading outdoors.
The May 11 book launch event
Not only can you support Terri’s work in person this spring, you can meet her in person and get a signed book.
She’ll be hosting a book launch event from 6:30PM to 8:30PM on May 11 at Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva.
At the event, she'll sign and sell books, give a short talk on prevention heading into the warm months, and host a guest speaker who will share her own experience with misdiagnosis and recovery. Appetizers, wine, and beer will be served.
The timing is intentional — May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month.
"It's really kicking off Lyme Disease Awareness Month," Terri said. "But it's also about preventing tick-borne illness for your families, just different things you can do to keep your kids safe this summer."
For a Geneva mom who promised herself that she would never turn away another family going through what hers did, the book and the event are one more way of keeping that promise.
Get more details and sign up for the book launch event, and reserve a copy of “Being Misdiagnosed: Stories That Reveal the Hidden Epidemic of Lyme Disease.”
📖 Thanks for reading
Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] with questions or comments.
Not signed up yet? Subscribe here.