Athena Brownson
speaker
330 appearances
8 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard May 2025
Athena Brownson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
But it has come through adversity and through fighting every single day to keep going because there are most days I don't want to. And to be able to have a career for me, real estate, that is something I'm so passionate about and is my why.
I work with people that I love, that I built lifelong relationships with and helping them to really buy and sell a home is the biggest transaction you do in your life. And to be a part of people's lives in that way and a part of
each chapter through home that's my why and it keeps me getting out of bed even when i don't want to so it's really been an evolution of understanding what my why is and get building my toolkit for continuing forward even when i don't want that's so much we can dive into here
So I was 25 years old and that's when I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. I am not actually sure when I was bit. So the way you get Lyme disease is a tick bite. I personally have never even seen a tick. We don't have a ton of ticks in Colorado, but as a professional skier, I was traveling globally and I was in heavily wooded areas. So at some point I was bit by a tick.
That tick was carrying Lyme disease along with two other co-infections that I am also fighting. And Lyme is interesting as it lays dormant in your system until something weakens your immune system and it can come out and take over. For me, I ended up having neck surgery. I broke my neck skiing and my immune system took a hit from having neck surgery.
It was weekend, and that's when all of my symptoms started to act up with Lyme disease. And I was really fortunate that a doctor knew a lot about Lyme disease. It's something that is a little bit new in the medical field. There's not a ton of doctors that are very Lyme literate, I like to say. And I was very fortunate to be diagnosed immediately.
It's been seven and a half years, almost eight now of fighting Lyme disease.
I would love nothing more. And I was in the same boat. I had no idea what Lyme disease was before I was diagnosed with it. In fact, when my doctor suggested that we do testing for it, I laughed because I was so unaware of Lyme disease. And I also was very naive to how significant it is. So Lyme disease is interesting because it affects everyone differently.
So depending on what you're genetically predisposed to, whatever your genetic weaknesses are, Lyme attacks that so for some people that can be myalgia or rheumatoid arthritis a multitude of autoimmune diseases like i have i have an autoimmune disease where my body attacks my nerves so that's why i'm in pain all the time because my own body is attacking my nerves
It can look like psychiatric issues for some people. It can range from such a variety of symptoms that that's what makes it difficult to diagnose. However, Lyme is the fastest growing epidemic in the United States right now. So the number of people that are contracting Lyme from a tick, like I said, You get it from being bit by a tick.
And if you are aware that you're bit by a tick immediately, you should go to the doctor. You'll usually see a red ring around the bite if it is carrying a disease. But I would say if you get bit by a tick, just go to the doctor because they can give you a short cycle of antibiotics and you'll never deal with it again.
It's cases like mine where you don't know that you were bit, so it lays dormant in your system. And then when you least expect it, no one ever expects all of a sudden to start having the horrific symptoms. My life has made complete 180 from being a professional athlete to trying to get myself through each day. It's a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Now it's taught me more in life than I think anything ever could, but... People should be very aware that if you're in a heavily wooded area and there are ticks present, you should be aware of protecting yourself with long sleeves. They make tick repellent sprays. And if you do get bit, to go to the doctor because chronic Lyme disease, which is what stays for a long time,
is a very difficult disease to navigate. So if you know that you got bit and you can take a couple of weeks of antibiotics, then you'll never deal with it again. But unfortunately, that's usually not the case. Most people, I believe 70% of people with Lyme disease have no idea when or where they were bit.
Challenge is the perfect word because it is the most challenging thing that I have ever been through. And it is something that when you break a bone or have a surgery, you can talk to the doctor and they say, if you do A, B, C, and D, you'll get better. With chronic Lyme disease, unfortunately, there's no if you do A, B, C, and D, you'll get better. Different for everyone.
It's something that is just starting to be really understood and studied on a global scale. And because it's different for everyone, there really is, you almost feel like a lab rat. with trying different therapies. But when I was diagnosed, I truly was naive because like I said, I was at the top of my real estate game.
I felt a little bit invincible before that having come from a professional skiing career. which I actually believe is what taught me the grit to get through each day and to get through this adversity and to keep pushing forward.
Because I believe that when we're hit with life, with difficulties and challenges and horrific incidents, that unfortunately all of us have different adversity that we do face in life.
And it's really difficult at that time to a moment and understand that although these are the most challenging times of my life, and it's been seven and a half years, where I don't remember what it is like to not be in constant pain. I have... Waking up in the morning is, it feels like the most difficult task I've ever done.
Every little thing that I do is so taxing on my body and exhausting on my body and painful. I spend a huge amount of time in hospitals, like I said. I get all of my plasma taken out once a month, which is a huge transfusion. It's really hard not to get stuck in the mud when you're dealing with something that is so challenging and so constant and chronic pain and chronic fatigue and
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