Local Author Featured in Book on Lyme Disease

EAST LONGMEADOW — Local author and business owner Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman is featured in the new book The Waiting Room: Invisible Voices of Lyme.

The book is a compilation of 27 real-life stories released to help raise Lyme disease awareness, to encourage sufferers to keep fighting, and to help caregivers and doctors understand how to better support those with Lyme disease. Compiled by author Vickie Gould, the book outlines the struggles that sufferers go through on a daily basis, and aims to raise awareness and understanding of the disease.

“It was difficult for me to write my story, and I was hesitant to release it for fear of what my family, friends, and colleagues would think — and, in fact, I had missed the deadline while contemplating my decision,” said Fischer Hoffmann, owner of the Clutter Doctor Inc. “But then I thought to myself, what if, by sharing my story, someone reading it got inspired to speak up and get help? Of course I would be happy with that.”

Added Gould, “it is our hope that this book will not just raise awareness for Lyme disease, but also give hope to those suffering. Suicide is a top killer of those suffering from Lyme disease, and part of the angst that goes along with it is the fact that many family and friends don’t believe in Lyme, as it’s an invisible disease. I want this book to help those who surround Lyme sufferers, including doctors, to believe, love, and support them so the suffering can end.”

The book is available for purchase on Amazon, and all profits will be donated to the Lyme documentary The Monster Inside Me.