Lyme Disease Awareness & AdvocacyTick Boot Camp is a Lyme disease awareness and advocacy platform dedicated to education, storytelling, community, and action.
Through the Tick Boot Camp Podcast, our digital content, and our advocacy efforts in New York City and beyond, we help people better understand tick-borne illness while amplifying the voices of patients, doctors, researchers, and advocates.
What began as a mission to validate the suffering of those affected by Lyme disease has grown into a broader movement focused on awareness, education, visibility, and hope.
Tick Boot Camp conducts both virtual podcast interviews and in-person studio interviews onsite, creating space for meaningful conversations that help liberate people from suffering through community, knowledge, and belief that healing is possible.
These moments reflect the expansion of Lyme disease awareness into culture, media, publishing, research, government, and public conversation.
Tick Boot Camp has proudly served as the official podcast partner for the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), a nonprofit, international, multi-disciplinary medical society dedicated to the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Lyme and its associated diseases.
Over the past three annual ILADS conferences, Tick Boot Camp has conducted extensive on-site interviews with leading Lyme-literate doctors, researchers, and medical professionals from around the world—capturing cutting-edge insights and bringing them directly to the Lyme community.
Across the most recent conferences alone, we have interviewed well over 150 experts, helping bridge the gap between patients and the latest developments in Lyme disease diagnosis, treatment, and research.
At the most recent ILADS conference, Tick Boot Camp co-founder Rich also served as Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the ILADS Gala—further strengthening our role within the Lyme disease advocacy and medical community.
Read more / tune in: LIVE from ILADS Conference Interviews
Matt and Rich from Tick Boot Camp took the runway at New York Fashion Week as part of Project Lab Coat, a groundbreaking event that brought Lyme disease awareness to one of the world’s most influential cultural stages.
Project Lab Coat united celebrities, doctors, researchers, advocates, and patients to highlight the urgent need for Lyme disease research, treatment, and recognition. The event demonstrated how fashion can serve as a powerful platform to elevate awareness for one of the fastest-growing vector-borne illnesses in the world.
Proceeds from the event supported leading Lyme-focused organizations including Project Lyme, Global Lyme Alliance (GLA), and LymeLight Foundation—friends and partners of Tick Boot Camp—who are working to fund research, support patients, and drive meaningful progress in the fight against Lyme disease.
For Tick Boot Camp, walking the runway was about representing the Lyme community—amplifying voices, validating experiences, and helping push awareness into the mainstream.
Tick Boot Camp co-founders Matt Sabatello and Rich Johannesen led the featured author panel discussion at Project Lyme’s inaugural Stories That Heal: Author Series in New York City—bringing together leading Lyme voices, advocates, researchers, patients, and caregivers for one of the most meaningful conversations in the Lyme disease space.
This was not just a storytelling event. It was a forward-moving discussion focused on real progress in Lyme disease understanding and treatment.
Panelists shared insights on evolving Lyme testing and diagnostic challenges, emerging herbal treatment research, and advanced pharmaceutical approaches including Dapsone protocols. The conversation also explored the broader impact of chronic infection on the body, including neurological involvement and cognitive decline.
In a powerful moment during the discussion, new research insights were shared finding that targeted Lyme disease treatment played a role in reversing neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia—highlighting just how far the science and clinical thinking around Lyme disease has come.
What made this event especially meaningful was the unity behind it. Lyme disease organizations and voices that have often worked in parallel came together in one room aligned in purpose: help patients, advance understanding, and create hope.
For Tick Boot Camp, leading this conversation reflects our mission—to bridge patients, doctors, and researchers while bringing the most important insights in Lyme disease directly to the community.
Tick Boot Camp attended the launch of Resilient Hope: A Memoir Of Life With Chronic Illness by Nicole O’Donnell in Manhattan, where approximately 1,000 people gathered for a powerful night of storytelling, visibility, and community.
Resilient Hope: A Memoir Of Life With Chronic Illness shares Nicole’s personal journey navigating chronic illness, including Lyme disease, while also amplifying the voices of others facing similar challenges.
The event was more than a book launch. It was a defining moment for Lyme disease awareness, with themes that deeply resonate across the community, including misdiagnosis, medical dismissal, invisible symptoms, and the emotional toll of not being believed.
One of the most powerful aspects of Resilient Hope is that it is not just Nicole’s story. It is also a collective story of Lyme disease resilience, featuring voices across the community—including Tick Boot Camp co-founder Matt Sabatello.
Following the event, we continued the conversation with Nicole O’Donnell through an in-person interview in the Tick Boot Camp studio, further reflecting our commitment to amplifying important voices.
Read more: Lyme Disease Community Shows Strength at Resilient Hope Book Launch in Manhattan
In May 2022, Tick Boot Camp helped support a major milestone in local Lyme disease advocacy when Councilwoman Jane Bonner sponsored a proclamation declaring May as Lyme Disease Awareness Month in the Town of Brookhaven.
View Resolution 2022-412 (Lyme Disease Awareness Month Proclamation) from the Town of Brookhaven.
Tick Boot Camp continues to grow as a leading voice in Lyme disease awareness—bridging patients, science, storytelling, and advocacy while helping people take meaningful steps toward healing.