“I have spent the four decades since then trying to understand how my grandmother knew to trust her gut.”

"This is a photo of my grandma in 2006, and it's exactly as I remember her now," the author writes.

The author (left) with her dad and her little brother Sal. "This was the day we were released from the hospital following our recovery from Rocky Mountain spotted fever," she writes.

The author (right) at her wedding in 2002 with her grandma.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Jennifer Saterdal is an author, tick-borne illness survivor, and advocate. She published her debut book, “Bitten: A Tick Survivor’s Warning About the Growing Tick Crisis,” in 2026. She writes and speaks to raise awareness about the growing threat of tick-borne illness and the gaps in medical diagnosis. She lives in Washington state with her husband and children. Learn more at jennifersaterdal.com.

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