Lyme
disease
WBFF Fox 45
Baltimore, MD
by Megan McHale
14 June 2004
TOM COFFEY’S PROBLEMS
BEGAN ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO
Tom Coffey:
My first symptom my eyes went crossed . . . it was just out of the blue.
My left eye started to point down and off to the left.
THINGS ONLY GOT WORSE.
. . TOM’S BLOOD PRESSURE SKYROCKETED. . . HE LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT AND
HIS FACE BEGAN TO DROOP.
EVENTUALLY TOM COULDN’T
SWALLOW. . . THAT PUT HIM IN THE HOSPITAL.
Tom Coffey:
Nobody could figure out what was wrong with me . . . all my friends were
talking about me . . . my wife was crying and she’s like what is wrong
with you.
FINALLY . . . MONTHS
AFTER HIS FIRST SYMPTOMS APPEARED . . . TOM GOT A DIAGNOSIS.
Tom Coffey:
I’ll never forget that . . . we went in and the doctor did this EMG
test and he takes off his glasses and looks at the floor and says Mr. Coffey
the test is positive for ALS.
LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE.
A SECOND OPINION CONFIRMED THE DIAGNOSIS. TOM . . . THE FATHER OF TWO AT
THE TIME . . . WAS GIVEN SIX MONTHS TO LIVE.
Tom Coffey:
We had to sell our house. I started making some notes on paper as far as
a service.
BUT THEN TOM WENT TO
DR. GREGORY BACH . . . A PENNSYLVANIA DOCTOR WHO TREATS PATIENTS WITH LYME
DISEASE. .
Dr Gregory Bach:
The poor guy . . . I was so afraid for him . . . he looked like he was going
to die right there.
DR. BACH SAYS TOM TESTED
POSITIVE FOR LYME DISEASE AND HE BEGAN TREATING HIM WITH ANTIBIOTICS IMMEDIATELY.
EVERY DAY TOM’S
CONDITION IMPROVED . . . AND EVENTUALLY HIS SYMPTOMS DISAPPEARED.
Tom Coffey:
I’ve had a complete reversal.
So how did Tom Coffey’s
doctors mistake ALS for lyme disease?
Dr. Bach says the symptoms
of lyme disease are similar to those of ALS. He also says the blood tests
for lyme disease are grossly inaccurate.
LYME DISEASE IS CARRIED
BY DEER TICKS AND MORE PREVALENT IN THE SPRING AND SUMMER.
ACCORDING TO THE INTERNATIONAL
LYME AND ASSOCIATED DISEASES SOCIETY . . . THE TWO-TIER SYSTEM USED TO CONFIRM
LYME DISEASE . . . FAILS TO DETECT UP TO NINETY PERCENT OF THE CASES.
Dr. Gregory Bach:
So this reporting criteria has somehow gotten to be used as a true diagnostic
criteria and it should not be because this is a disease that is a clinical
diagnosis.
DR. BACH SAYS TOM COFFEY
IS NOT AN ISOLATED CASE.
Dr. Gregory Bach:
We are up to about 60 cases of ALS properly categorized and they have 100
percent of these tick borne bacteria which is astounding.
BUT DR. JEFFREY ROTHSTEIN
OF JOHNS HOPKINS CAUTIONS AGAINST DISMISSING A DISEASE AS SERIOUS AS ALS
. . . OR GIVING ALS PATIENTS FALSE HOPE.
Dr. Jefrey Rothstein:
I worry when patients come to me and say . . . I’ve been to physician
X and this physician is calling everyone I’ve ever met with ALS another
disease . . . there’s a problem there.
DR. ROTHSTEIN SAYS
ALS CAN TAKE YEARS TO PROPERLY DIAGNOSE . . . SO A MIS-DIAGNOSIS IS CERTAINLY
POSSIBLE. BUT DR. ROTHSTEIN ALSO SAYS A TEST CALLED A SPINAL TAP CAN DETERINE
WHETHER SOMEONE HAS ALS OR LYME DISEASE.
Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein:
That test would be seriously abnormal . . . typical of lyme disease completely
atypical of ALS.
ROTHSTEIN ALSO SAYS
PATIENTS WHO TRULY HAVE ALS DO NOT GET BETTER. . . THE DISEASE IS FATAL.
TOM COFFEY HAS SURVIVED
HIS DEATH SENTENCE. HE HAS OCCASIONAL BACK STIFFNESS, BUT NOTHING STOPS
HIM FROM PLAYING WITH HIS THREE CHILDREN. THE YOUNGEST . . . NOT QUITE TWO
. . . IS NAMED AFTER DR. BACH. .
Tom Coffey:
The future looks great for me. . . Every day I get up and go to work I get
my son on the bus. . . I spend time with the baby . . . everything looks
great to me
— MEGAN McHALE,
FOX 45 NEWS AT TEN.
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