*Originally published 5/29/14*
I’ve only met Cassidy once so I can’t say much about what she is like and how she has changed since her diagnosis. What I can vouch for is the strength and love the Colbert family as a whole represents. I became friends with Cassidy’s older sister Taylor in college. Taylor told me about her sister’s daily struggles with Lyme and how it had taken such a toll on the family. I knew extremely little about the disease and never thought much about it until then.
As our friendship went on, I would always ask how Cassidy was doing and what treatments were working and what wasn’t. Taylor would tell me about Cassidy’s good days and bad days and it was so clear how hard it was for her to be away from her sister at these difficult times in her life. It completely opened my eyes to this disease and allowed me to forward information on to other people to spread awareness. People can’t learn and understand unless the disease is openly discussed. The entire Colbert family has spread so much awareness and I don’t think they realize how amazing they are for it.
People may think it’s just a small blog, or a simple news link posted on someone’s wall, but it is so much more than that. For every “click” out of curiosity that is one more person being educated than there was before. If you are on the outside like I am, you see the Colbert family as a dynamic and happy family who are so loving and supportive of one another you would never think there was anything wrong. Yet something is wrong and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a negative post from anyone other than Cassidy simply cursing Lyme for existing, which we can all agree she has every right to do.
I know families who have everything to be thankful for yet don’t exude half of the happiness and love that this family does. I know actions are taught and learned so this says a lot about Mr. and Mrs. Colbert. It is easy to see that the Colbert children are reflections of their environment and wouldn’t be such great people without having great role models. This is a family I would never wish such an awful burden upon but seeing how they are handling it lets me know that we should all take note and learn something from them. Perhaps, take the time to realize our problems are in fact quite small.
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