"My name is Jessica, I am 26 years old and from Seattle, WA. My journey began years ago but it wasn’t until October of 2018 that I was officially diagnosed with many tick-borne illnesses: Babesiosis, Bartonella, Ehrlichia & suspected Lyme Disease. Growing up I had many health issues that were poorly diagnosed. I was told I was battling IBS and gluten intolerance and was given drug after drug to try to mask my symptoms rather than find the actual cause of my symptoms. After things took a turn for the worse in January of 2018 I tried out a few conventional doctors that gave me no answers. I knew then that I was falling into the "invisible" illness category and so I started to research for myself and become my own advocate. I found many people online who were struggling with the same symptoms and all signs were leading to tick-borne illness. So I sought out a tick-borne illness specialist in Seattle and spent over $10k on testing to find out that, what I had assumed, was in fact the issue I was dealing with. This necklace by Aware Causes reminds me to keep fighting and let's me spread awareness of my invisible illness. I find it important to share my story because I learned a lot about myself through the shared stories of others. My hope is that I can pay it forward and help shed some light for someone else who might be going through the same confusing time in their life." @healingjess_