Kris Newby

I'm an engineer by training. I have two engineering degrees, one from University of Utah and then one from Stanford. I started out designing phones and computers early on in the 80s, the go-go 80s. I when I had kids, I moved over to Apple Computer and I did tech marketing there. So I was a tech writer in the valley for quite a while. My husband was an entrepreneur, tech person, too.

I'm an engineer by training. I have two engineering degrees, one from University of Utah and then one from Stanford. I started out designing phones and computers early on in the 80s, the go-go 80s. I when I had kids, I moved over to Apple Computer and I did tech marketing there. So I was a tech writer in the valley for quite a while. My husband was an entrepreneur, tech person, too.

I'm an engineer by training. I have two engineering degrees, one from University of Utah and then one from Stanford. I started out designing phones and computers early on in the 80s, the go-go 80s. I when I had kids, I moved over to Apple Computer and I did tech marketing there. So I was a tech writer in the valley for quite a while. My husband was an entrepreneur, tech person, too.

So when we were in our early 40s, we took a vacation with our friends to Martha's Vineyard, a week long vacation. And that's when my husband and I, a week later, we came back to California and we were sicker than we'd ever been. And that began our hellish journey. through undiagnosed Lyme disease.

So when we were in our early 40s, we took a vacation with our friends to Martha's Vineyard, a week long vacation. And that's when my husband and I, a week later, we came back to California and we were sicker than we'd ever been. And that began our hellish journey. through undiagnosed Lyme disease.

So when we were in our early 40s, we took a vacation with our friends to Martha's Vineyard, a week long vacation. And that's when my husband and I, a week later, we came back to California and we were sicker than we'd ever been. And that began our hellish journey. through undiagnosed Lyme disease.

Crushing fatigue, exploding headache, like an alien on the back of your neck, everything hurting, just weak, super weak. As it progressed, just a couple of months later, we had what I would call a combination of symptoms that were like Alzheimer's. You couldn't think straight. Chronic fatigue. arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, like the peristaltic motion of our bowels wouldn't work.

Crushing fatigue, exploding headache, like an alien on the back of your neck, everything hurting, just weak, super weak. As it progressed, just a couple of months later, we had what I would call a combination of symptoms that were like Alzheimer's. You couldn't think straight. Chronic fatigue. arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, like the peristaltic motion of our bowels wouldn't work.

Crushing fatigue, exploding headache, like an alien on the back of your neck, everything hurting, just weak, super weak. As it progressed, just a couple of months later, we had what I would call a combination of symptoms that were like Alzheimer's. You couldn't think straight. Chronic fatigue. arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, like the peristaltic motion of our bowels wouldn't work.

So you just felt toxic all the time. Confused. Like my husband, he had to go to work because we needed the health insurance. This is about six months into the disease. And he would be at the whiteboard doing some technical presentation. He'd forget who he was, where he was, and what he was talking about. And he would have to leave the room so he could regroup. So it was a devastating disease.

So you just felt toxic all the time. Confused. Like my husband, he had to go to work because we needed the health insurance. This is about six months into the disease. And he would be at the whiteboard doing some technical presentation. He'd forget who he was, where he was, and what he was talking about. And he would have to leave the room so he could regroup. So it was a devastating disease.

So you just felt toxic all the time. Confused. Like my husband, he had to go to work because we needed the health insurance. This is about six months into the disease. And he would be at the whiteboard doing some technical presentation. He'd forget who he was, where he was, and what he was talking about. And he would have to leave the room so he could regroup. So it was a devastating disease.

And we get... The whole process was a year, 10 doctors, $60,000 to get diagnosed. All the doctors I talked to, I said, you know, it could be Lyme disease because we were on Martha's Vineyard. That was the number two state for Lyme disease. Can you test it? No, that's a rare disease. And your symptoms don't match what's on the CDC website.

And we get... The whole process was a year, 10 doctors, $60,000 to get diagnosed. All the doctors I talked to, I said, you know, it could be Lyme disease because we were on Martha's Vineyard. That was the number two state for Lyme disease. Can you test it? No, that's a rare disease. And your symptoms don't match what's on the CDC website.

And we get... The whole process was a year, 10 doctors, $60,000 to get diagnosed. All the doctors I talked to, I said, you know, it could be Lyme disease because we were on Martha's Vineyard. That was the number two state for Lyme disease. Can you test it? No, that's a rare disease. And your symptoms don't match what's on the CDC website.

So we're not going to test you for it, even though it's a cheap screening test, fast and cheap. Finally, we got to Stanford, and they test us for many diseases, and the test for Lyme disease was positive. It was the first positive test in eight months.

So we're not going to test you for it, even though it's a cheap screening test, fast and cheap. Finally, we got to Stanford, and they test us for many diseases, and the test for Lyme disease was positive. It was the first positive test in eight months.

So we're not going to test you for it, even though it's a cheap screening test, fast and cheap. Finally, we got to Stanford, and they test us for many diseases, and the test for Lyme disease was positive. It was the first positive test in eight months.

But they ignored it because they said, well, that's not a very good test, so we're going to ignore it and fire you as patients because we don't believe in chronic Lyme disease. So all of a sudden, we had no place to go. We both felt like we were on the verge of death. We felt like it was like a month before we had to sell our house because we couldn't work.

But they ignored it because they said, well, that's not a very good test, so we're going to ignore it and fire you as patients because we don't believe in chronic Lyme disease. So all of a sudden, we had no place to go. We both felt like we were on the verge of death. We felt like it was like a month before we had to sell our house because we couldn't work.