London, UK
Infected: uncertain
Diagnosed: 2016
Current health: “I still have tough days but I know I am more like me.”

There’s no way that I would’ve walked through a wood or a forest with my kids and gone back home and thought, ‘right, I’ll just check for some ticks just to make sure everything is fine’. I just wouldn’t have thought of that. [Now I know.] -Matt Dawson

UK rugby union star Matt Dawson (played for Barbarians, British and Irish Lions, Northampton Saints, Wasps, and England) shares an update on his battle with Lyme disease in this video by The Telegraph.  Dawson believes he was infected after getting bit by a tick in an urban park.  Potentially infected for many years before being diagnosed, the disease quickly escalated in 2016 when the bacteria penetrated his heart, requiring multiple heart operations and over 18 months of intensive treatment. While now free from the disease, he is still on medication for the heart condition caused by the illness.

Matt Dawson at the 2003 World Cup. Image courtesy of Andrew Budd, The Telegraph. Video also courtesy of The Telegraph.

See full story in The Telegraph here.

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