Peggy Will Walk Again… And You Can Help Her Do It!

by Scott A. Forsgren

As a runner and avid athlete in high school, Peggy Merriman was the picture of health. Never did she dream of the challenges that would lie before her.

At the age of 17, Peggy came home not feeling well after a run. Almost immediately, she became incredibly exhausted and lethargic. In addition to being tired, her entire body ached. The next day, she decided to consult a doctor. Little did she know it would be the first of many doctors she would see in an attempt to figure out the mystery of her condition.

Her doctor immediately suggested mononucleosis as the cause of the debilitating fatigue and ran blood tests to confirm. The results were negative. The doctor decided to put Peggy on antibiotics. For a short time, Peggy began to feel better. She pressed on with her life and started college as a music performance major playing both piano and harp.

During her first year at the University of Oregon, Peggy began to have odd sensations in her body and found it becoming increasingly difficult to play her instruments. At 19, she returned home and visited with another doctor for her yearly physical. Peggy told her doctor that she had been experiencing a number of unusual sensations as well as having had problems with her bladder.

The doctor performed a number of basic motor tests and told Peggy that, though she could not be certain, she “probably” had a disease called Multiple Sclerosis. Peggy was then sent to a neurologist to confirm the diagnosis. The results of her spinal tap were normal but the neurologist agreed that Peggy “probably” had an incurable disease called Multiple Sclerosis.

As a result of her “probable MS” diagnosis, Peggy was given years of steroids in an attempt to keep her illness under control. She was forced to leave college as she was experiencing profound fatigue, was having trouble playing her instruments, and no longer had full control of her own body. At 19, Peggy was using a cane. She later went to crutches. At 24, she used a walker, and at 26, Peggy began to use a manual wheelchair.

A consultation with another doctor resulted in the highest level of mercury toxicity that the doctor had ever seen. Her results were off the charts. Her amalgams were removed and a series of DMPS chelation treatments were administered. Since she only had five amalgams, the doctor suggested that the most likely source of Peggy’s mercury was from her mother during pregnancy.

In 2000, Peggy sought the help of another doctor, Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD, in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Klinghardt evaluated Peggy with a technique that he often uses with his patients called ART, or Autonomic Response Testing. The evaluation suggested that Peggy may have actually been dealing with Lyme disease, not Multiple Sclerosis.

After he was finished, Dr. Klinghardt told her, “People with MS pass these tests. You failed them grossly.” In fact, Dr. Klinghardt further pointed out that the years of steroids were likely a contributor to her rapid decline and in part responsible for her need to use a wheelchair.

Peggy doesn’t like to be referred to as being “in a wheelchair”. She says she refuses to be negated, and believes that the phrase makes the chair a negative part of who she is. Peggy sees the chair as a tool that she or anyone else “uses” to move forward with their life, but she does not see the chair as an attribute or a characteristic of who she is as a person. In her own words, she says “It doesn’t matter if a person’s wheelchair is manually propelled or motorized, doesn’t even matter if a person is paralyzed from the eyelids down; a chair is a mobility device, a tool, and being as such that’s exactly what a person does, they use it.”

After Peggy’s visit with Dr. Klinghardt, there was still some question in her mind as to whether or not Lyme disease was really the cause of her failing health. She did some further research and then reached out to another doctor that was known to be a specialist in the field of Lyme disease.

Peggy consulted with Steven Harris, MD in California who performed further tests to check for the existence of Lyme disease. The result was a positive Western Blot as well as positive tests for all of the major co-infections including Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia. It was now becoming clear that Peggy did not have MS as other doctors suggested she “probably” did, but instead Peggy had Lyme disease.

Peggy continued working with Dr. Harris, who aggressively treated both her Lyme disease as well as the co-infections which had been identified. Peggy has nothing but positive things to say about the care that she has received from Dr. Harris. Indeed, the proof is in her progress.

At her worst, Peggy had trouble feeding herself. She had significant numbness throughout the lower half of her body, had no energy and could not sleep. Today, eleven years later at the age of 37, Peggy continues to use her chair. However, she has notably improved. She has more energy. She sleeps better. Her night sweats are almost gone.

All of these are signs that Peggy is on the right track and she is clearly seeing that treating for Lyme disease is resulting in a marked improvement and recovery. Since the first day that Peggy needed to use a wheelchair, she says that she always knew there would come a time when she would leave the chair behind and would one day walk again. That time is now. Her doctor tells her that all the signals to move her legs are there. The focus now needs to be on rebuilding the muscles that have not been used for so many years.

Peggy’s fiancé Jay did some research and found an organization called Project Walk. Project Walk is an exercise-based recovery program that works with those with spinal-cord injuries that believe they will walk again. As fate would have it, one of only two Project Walk facilities in the nation was in Peggy’s own backyard. Project Walk had an office in Peggy’s hometown of Beaverton, Oregon. It was almost as though it was meant to be. Peggy and Jay met with Ted Dardzinski, the founder of Project Walk, and Peggy was accepted and immediately began to participate in the program.

For Peggy, Project Walk is a three year program which she attends twice a week. She started the program three months ago and is already seeing improvements. Her energy and core strength have improved. In fact, one of her doctors could not believe the progress she had made in such a short period of time.

The cost of the program is about $32,000 per year which results in the entire program costing just over $96,000 for three years. In order to remain in the program, Peggy will have to rely on the support that she gets through a web site aptly titled “Peggy Will Walk – It’s Not If, It’s When”. The site is at http://www.peggywillwalk.com/PWW/

I urge you to take a look and to do what you can to help support Peggy’s journey.

When I first visited the site, I was immediately drawn in by the kindness reflected in the picture of Peggy. Several videos which show the work that she is doing at Project Walk help to tell more of the story and to provide more insight on who Peggy is. The videos brought tears to my eyes. I felt inspired. I felt a power of human spirit that was so incredibly strong. I knew right away that Peggy’s story was a story that I wanted to tell.

Not only did I want to tell the story, but I wanted to be a part of it. Through your generous donations, you can all be a part of Peggy’s story too.

A fund has been established through the Catastrophic Injury Program of the National Transplant Assistance Fund to help Peggy realize her future reality of walking unassisted. NTAF is a non-profit organization that has been assisting the transplant and spinal cord injury community for over 20 years. All contributions are administered by NTAF exclusively for uninsured medical expenses. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

To learn more about Peggy’s story, track her progress, or donate in support of her recovery, visit her web site at http://www.peggywillwalk.com/PWW/.

Additional information on Project Walk can be found at http://www.ProjectWalk.org

Scott Forsgren has been journeying through the world of Lyme disease for over 10 years and shares his experiences through his web site at http://www.BetterHealthGuy.com.