Trouble in Paradise

Lyme Disease Spreads in Chester County Epicenter 

Lou Ann Good
Food and Family Features Editor

ATGLEN, Pa. — Pete and Sally Stees’ 106-acre farm bordering the Octorara Creek looks like a piece of Paradise. It’s hard to fathom trouble lurking among the beauty of the rolling farmland, the pond sparkling in the winter sun, the 1700s farm house the adjacent log cabin with its ties to the Underground Railroad and the untouched woodland bordering the Octorara waterbasin.

Unfortunately the Stees’ farm sits within the epicenter of Lyme disease, which is spread by deer ticks and wildlife that inhabit the area.

The ugly tentacles of the disease have heavily infiltrated the Stees household. Both Sally and Pete have been diagnosed with the disease known for its fickle symptoms. Treatment of the disease is highly controversial, and seldom effective in permanently eradicating it. Both Sally and Pete have had different experiences with how Lyme Disease invaded and attacked their bodies. Their stories demonstrate the frustration patients and doctors face in treatment.

Sally said her symptoms began in 2001, shortly after her husband removed two ticks from the back of her head. At the time, they thought little of it since they are so accustomed to having tick bites. In fact, when they walk their two dogs, the Stees said it is not unusual to remove at least 20 deer ticks off one dog.

But soon after Pete removed two from the back of Sally’s head, she experienced dizziness, headaches and extreme fatigue, symptoms that are generally associated with the onset of Lyme. Complicating manners, her blood did not test positive for Lyme. Specialists in the disease said this is typical. It is estimated that only about 50 percent of the cases test positive in blood serum and should not be depended upon for clinical diagnosis. Lyme is extremely difficult to diagnose because it mimics many other diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and other autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. Once acquired, Lyme can lie dormant and suddenly erupt with powerful consequences.

As her symptoms worsened, Sally’s complaints were attributed to that of a hypochondriac, which is also a typical diagnosis for those who contract Lyme with its many variations of symptoms.

Those who knew her well, knew that she wasn’t the type to wallow in symptoms. She was a fighter, a breast cancer survivor, she ran marathons and operated a massage therapy business.

After years of suffering and spending thousands on doctor bills, Sally eventually had a brain scan that showed tell-tale signs of the disease.

Then, in 2003, Pete awoke with stiff neck muscles and a rash of 19 bullseyes (the tell-tale sign) of Lyme. He was immediately treated with antibiotics, the typical treatment for four weeks. Two weeks after finishing the antibiotic treatment, Pete was eating breakfast “when everything turned white.” By the time he arrived in the emergency room, he had full-blown symptoms of Bell’s palsy and was given a spinal tap and IVs. Again the symptoms disappeared.

This has become a pattern. After 30 days of antibodies, all symptoms disappear only to flair up at odd times with no particular reason. Most often it returns with severe swelling in his knee. Doctors said the disease also attacked the cartilage in his left ankle and completely destroyed it.

“Vets are more up to date on Lyme disease than medical doctors,” Pete said of using their services for their dogs, who also have also tested positive for Lyme.

Some people asked why the Stees don’t move away from the site that has been identified as one of the heaviest populated areas for deer ticks and for diagnosed cases of Lyme. But the couple is deeply attached to the property they purchased and transformed from a dilapidated state. The house had broken-out windows, no kitchen and little usable space. Pete tore down an old wooden silo of the farm and used the wood to lay flooring in the family room.

He closed in a wraparound porch and tore out partitions to expand space for a kitchen and family room.

Twice Pete was named Chester County’s Conservationist of the Year for the outstanding work he has done in reclaiming deeply gorged land for farming purposes. He worked hard to install conservation practices and rebuilt the soil to the point that today, auctioneers say of his hay business that he grows the best in the area.

“He’s a workaholic,” his wife said of Pete’s endless work on the property inside and outside.

Pete had not been raised on a farm and tells how his family wanted him to pursue a medical profession and tried to discourage him from farming.

“But all I ever wanted to do was farm,” Pete said. After a stint in the Armed Forces, Pete went to college and worked one summer for a veterinarian, but that only confirmed how much he wanted to farm. He said, “I knew I couldn’t be a vet and just treat an animal and leave. I wanted to be the one taking care of them.”

When Sally and he married in 1969, she had 20 horses that she boarded and rehabilitated for New Bolton Center.

She also had a few calves, not because she intended to get into dairy but at that time she had lived at a place overlooking pasture. She noticed some calves born were left in the meadow and died. The farmer told her calves at that time were only worth $5 and not worth saving. Sally asked if she could raise the ones he didn’t want. That’s how she had the first four heifers to start their dairy herd.

Nonetheless, Sally wasn’t interested in dairying and told Pete to expect to take care of the dairy himself.

“But you know how that goes,” Sally said. Soon she was feeding, milking and immersed in all the daily work of dairying.

After milking 22 years on their farm, the couple sold their dairy cows in 1998. Previously, Pete also had been in charge of goat milking at New Bolton Center for six years.

Their property is an accumulation of a dream that they relentlessly pursued, and no matter how pressing health issues become, the couple do not want to part with the property.

Sally needs to be on antibiotics continuously as symptoms of Lyme including a fever return whenever she goes off antibiotics. Of course, such heavy dosages carry other risks.

Sally is hopeful that research conducted by Columbia University with Lyme associations in New Jersey and Connecticut and other places will find a cure. In the meantime, she hears of many people struggling with Lyme and for this reason contacted Rep. Art Hershey to recommend a public educational session on Lyme Disease be offered free to the public.

The February 9.event (see adjacent notice) will examine the myths and truth about Lyme and help people understand what treatment is available and where to find it.

Doug Fearn, president of the Lyme Disease Association in Southeastern Pennsylvania, said the Chester County area is considered the epicenter of Lyme. It’s the ideal habitat for ticks, since moist, cool conditions exist along a creek with expansive wooded area and an over abundance of deer.