Grandma's Magazine Find Saved Lives

In the summer of 1985, two young siblings in Florida were critically ill with unexplained fevers and severe symptoms, leading doctors to believe they had only two days to live. Their grandmother, a secretary and avid reader, discovered an article detailing symptoms identical to her grandchildren's. She immediately brought the information to the hospital, leading to a swift diagnosis of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a tick-borne bacterial disease.

Despite the rarity of the illness in Florida at the time and the diagnostic challenges, the medical team treated the children. While one sibling experienced lasting anemia, both survived. The author reflects on this event decades later, emphasizing how her grandmother's attentiveness and willingness to speak up, even without medical training, saved their lives.

As of 2026, tick-borne illnesses remain a significant and growing public health concern. An estimated 31 million Americans are bitten by ticks each year, with emergency room visits for tick bites increasing by 25% compared to the previous year. Rocky Mountain spotted fever continues to be missed in early diagnoses, partly due to its varied presentation, including the absence of a characteristic rash in over half of cases, and the expanding geographic range of ticks into previously unaffected areas.

The author recounts a personal experience from six years prior, where her husband sustained five tick bites while walking on a paved path in Washington state, illustrating how easily tick exposure can occur. This underscores the continued importance of vigilance and informed suspicion, the very qualities her grandmother displayed, in combating tick-borne diseases. The author, now an advocate and survivor, stresses that paying attention and speaking up, even when uncertain, can be life-saving.